Neon Senshi Evangelion
by shanejayell
Summary: In the final battle with Queen Beryl, history goes off the rails. Now in a new era, can NERV make things right?
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Sailor Moon, I'm only borrowing them for awhile. This series will be shuffling dates around for both Sailor Moon and Evangelion and does not follow canon. It's a fic by Shanejayell, so expect yuri.

Evangeli-Moon

Episode Zero

It was Christmas, 1999, and on the frozen continent of Antarctica, Sailor Moon was fighting for her life, and quite possibly the lives of everyone on Earth. Queen Beryl of the Negaverse had established a primary base there, intending to unleash her demonic servants against humanity, and Sailor Moon and the other sailor Soldiers had come there to stop her.

The cost so far had been high, so much higher than Usagi Tsukino had ever expected to pay. Shortly after the team had transported there, they were attacked by the servants of the Negaverse, and one by one her friends had been picked off. Now Sailor Moon faced Beryl alone out on the ice, her foe transformed into a inhuman giant, and they fought with dark energy on one side and the power of the Imperium crystal on the other.

'Let us help you, Sailor Moon,' Ami's voice said gently, as one by one the spirits of her fallen comrades appeared beside her, lifting her up and giving her hope as her power flared brighter. Rei, Makoto, Minako, Ami... each one as real and vital as ever, smiling at her confidently.

Beryl cursed as she saw them appear, then the giant frowned in concentration. Within the tunnels beneath them the servants of the Negaverse died, screaming in agony as their power flowed into their mistress, strengthening her. And deeper down Beryl felt something else, something nearly as old as her. She did not dare to tap it directly but there was power from it too, matching and exceeding anything the princess could throw at her.

Sailor Moon cried out as the dark power pressed against her, nearly making her fall to her knees with the force of the impact. With a supreme act of will she stood, the gem in her wand blazing brightly even as she struggled against her. Bus as she fought the darkness back a single lance broke through her shield, slicing deep into the heart of the crystal itself.

"Hah!" Beryl started to crow in victory, then her eyes widened in alarm as unearthly energy blasted outward.

Sailor Moon screamed in agony as she was burnt by the sudden flare of power, shards of crystal cutting deeply into her chest as she struggled with the raw power unleashed. Her consciousness fading fast she struggled to restrain the shattered crystal and the immense energy leaking, but even her superhuman will wasn't enough.

Beryl screamed as Moon fell, the power eating down into rock and ice even as it exploded outward, sending rock and superheated steam billowing out. Marshaling her own power she slowed the advance a bit and drove some of the power into the Earth, but with dawning horror she knew it was too little too late. Wailing in pain and fury Beryl was consumed by the very energy her reckless attack had unleashed, destroyed along with any of her surviving minions.

Antarctica buckled like a bomb hit it, the entire icecap vaporizing in moments. The shock wave blasting out generated a tidal wave of incredible size, one that would devastate coastal communities around the world. Anything near the small continent was toast, including research bases, ships and the entity buried deep beneath it, too.

* * *

Farther out to sea and some hours later Gendo Ikari cursed as the black haired man held onto the railing of the bucking research ship, staring out at the blasted ruin of a continent. There was literally nothing left of the land mass, the former icy terrain gouged out as if by a giant scoop. He didn't know what had happened there, but he was fairly certain what it wasn't... and that scared him more than anything else today.

They were lucky to be alive, Gendo had to admit. On a supply run to the Antarctic Station they had seen the flash of light, then watched in awe and horror as the shock wave rippled out towards them. That nearly capsized the ship and could have killed them, but they rose it out, barely. Then the tidal wave had hit, throwing them around like a toy and sending crew flying. They still had search crews looking for overboard crew, but hope was fading fast.

Holding onto the railing and watching his step on the slick deck Gendo made his way up to the forecastle and the ship's bridge. The captain was still there, despite his supposed to have been going off shift hours ago. He clearly didn't want to leave until they found out what was going on, a feeling Gendo could sympathize with.

"Captain," Gendo nodded respectfully.

"Ikari," he nodded back, the grizzled old man looking out at the window. He frowned, "Does it feel warmer than it should?"

"It does," Gendo admitted, looking out and realizing he saw no ice, anywhere. "Whatever happened must have been incredibly hot," he mused, "heating the water too."

"Poured a lot of fresh water into the sea, too," the captain scratched his stubbly cheek, "ain't gonna be good for a lot of fish."

"No, it's not," Gendo agreed. He couldn't imagine what kind of damage this was going to do, but he knew it would be widespread and extremely bad. Bringing up why he came Gendo asked, "Is there anyway we can get closer?"

"Why would ye want to do that?" the captain demanded. "There's all kinds of rock and crap under the water there, an' probably more since the blast," he added.

"I want to try to find the research station," Gendo said seriously, "there was emergency gear, they might have survived." Silently he added, 'And if any of the equipment survived, we might be able to find out what happened.'

The captain frowned as he looked out at the water again, then nodded his head. "We'll have to move forward slow," he cautioned.

"Thank you," Gendo said, going outside to think.

At first glance, this looked like a contact experiment with Adam, or at least what they thought might happen. But there were flaws, differences, one of which started him right in the eye. If it HAD been Adam, the waters around Antarctica should have been transformed, at least somewhat. All the sailors agreed the waters were normal, if warmer and with fresh water mixed in. Unless their guide was completely wrong, of course....

At a few miles from shore, a sailor called out, "Man in the water!"

Gendo watched with interest as a motorboat with sailors and a medic went out, dragged the face up figure into the boat and went to work, even as they returned to the ship. As they brought her aboard Gendo saw she was wounded, a bloody cut across her chest, and burned fairly badly too. He couldn't even guess who she might be, and left them to their work.

Even stranger, they had recovered bodies from the water which... weren't quite human. Burn damage might explain some of the oddness, but yellow eyes? Orange skin? Bark, on one of them? Gendo had ordered them stuffed in freezers and kept, but to be honest he didn't know what to make of them.

A few hours later, the medics had her full stabilized and resting, but no one knew anything about her. She was dressed in the ragged bits of a white dress, it appeared, and had no id of any kind on her. Her fingerprints had been literally burned off, and dental records didn't match anyone on their employee list.

The captain appeared in sickbay while a medic was talking to Gendo. "What do we put down on the records?" the young man pressed.

Gendo sighed, looking at the sleeping woman. She had been lucky, her face had been shielded by her hands, he guessed, so all she lost was the hair on her head and much of her eyebrows. "Put her down as Misato Katsuragi," he suggested, "once she comes to, we can find out her real name."

"Guess it's better than Jane Doe," the medic agreed.

Once Gendo turned towards him the Captain drew him aside. "Got a call on the satellite phone," he told him, "it's your wife."

"Thank you," Gendo nodded briskly then hurried off.

The satellite phone was by the back of the bridge, and Gendo frowned as he picked it up. The phone wasn't secure, which meant he had to be careful what he said. "Yui?" he asked.

"It's me," Yui Ikari said, the warmth of her voice making Gendo smile. Her tone became a bit more businesslike as she asked, "What is the situation down there?"

Knowing the story would hit the news almost immediately Gendo answered, "It's gone. Blasted down to bedrock."

Cautiously Yui asked, "And our research subject?"

"We'll have to send in a larger team and do a thorough search," Gendo cautioned before adding, "but I think it's gone, too. None of the signs we expected are here."

"The old men are going to have a fit," Yui mused, sounding almost satisfied.

"Hmm," Gendo agreed. He wasn't as happy to know their sponsors in SEELE were going to be disappointed, but he couldn't say it bothered him much, either.

"Oh, and there's another reason I wanted to call you," Yui sounded amused, "It turns out you're not shooting blanks, husband."

"Wha...?" Gendo blinked.

"I'm pregnant," Yui clarified, "and according to my doctor, it looks like twins."

To be continued....


	2. One

Evangeli-Moon

Episode One

Over fifteen years later sirens wailed as a inhuman monster strode across the view screen, but Yui Ikari's gaze found itself resting on the young woman watching the battle. Misato Katsuragi was intently studying the battle even as she organized emergency response teams and prepared the Geofront for their own response.

"Confirm evacuation of civilians into shelters," Misato ordered, using a headpiece. She listened a moment, "Kensuke Aida's outside? Grab him and haul him in, then! There's no reason to let the military otaku get shot getting a photo!"

An amnesiac found at Antarctica after the event commonly known as Second Impact, Misato was a mystery. No fingerprints and dental records had turned up nothing. She spoke Japanese like a native but looked Caucasian, her hair was either blonde or brown (it had grown back in patches of both colours) and facial recognition programs came up zero.

"Conventional military weapons are having no effect," Misato confidently addressed the generals supervising the battle, "I suggest pulling them back and using a N2 mine."

"Don't tell us our business!" one old man growled.

Up on the screen the watched as the angel caught a missile out of midair, crunching it before it detonated harmlessly. Then it strode forward confidently, shrugging off more cannon fire as a destructive beam of energy blasted out of it's hand.

Yui winced as a helicopter exploded, killing who knows how many men. "Do you think they'll launch the mine?" she asked Gendo quietly, the two sitting in the back of the room as the military attempted to deal with the situation.

Gendo kept his face expressionless but the contempt was clear in his voice as he said, "They have to prove to themselves they've done all they can, first."

More missiles were wasted and several tanks went up before a general sat back, a disgusted look on his face. "Pull our forces back," he instructed, deliberately not looking at Misato, "and launch the N2 mine."

The angel strode forward as the military pulled back, seemingly mindless in it's determination to reach them. 'Is it operating on instinct,' Yui wondered, 'or is there a rational mind at work? Does it even know that Adam is dead?'

Then the N2 mind struck, and the screen went white. While not a nuclear weapon the N2 mine delivered similar power, with the advantage on no radiation effects. It was the most powerful weapon in the military's arsenal, and the generals up front were already congratulating themselves on their victory.

"Maya," Misato moved to where one of the technicians sat in front of the big screen, "can you clear up the interference?"

"I'll do my best," Maya Ibuki smiled as she went to work.

"Gentlemen," Gendo calmly addressed the generals as Maya cleared up the image, "your celebration is premature."

Cries of fear and alarm came up as the image appeared, the angel still mostly intact. The N2 mine had burned it, no question, and it had slowed down a bit, but other than that it seemed entirely uneffected by the attack.

"But," one general was looking up at the screen, slack jawed as he muttered, "that was our most powerful weapon!" 

"Conventional military might cannot stop these things, General," Yui addressed him calmly, "that's why you need Evangelion."

The lead general swept over her and Gendo, his expression profoundly unhappy. "We can't stop it," he conceded, "you're certain you can?"

"Yes sir," Gendo said calmly, his white gloved hands crossed in front of his face.

The general put on his cap straightening it gravely as his fellows stood up. "Then we turn this operation over to you," he said.

Gendo nodded, watching them file out, then he looked towards the front of the room. "Captain Katsuragi, over to you," he nodded.

Yui watched in pride as their ward and nearly adopted daughter took command. "Launch bays, ready Unit 01 for launch," she ordered, "Shinji, you ready?"

The young man's face appeared on screen, his brown hair floating slightly in the LCL filled entry plug, "Loaded up and ready to go," Shinji Ikari said, eyes flickering to his parents as he smiled.

'Good luck,' Yui mouthed at him.

"This isn't going to be easy," Misato cautioned him, "but we've gamed this out in scenarios before. You know it's attacks?"

"Energy beams from it's hands," Shinji answered promptly, "and it's probably damn strong. Best strategy would attack from a distance, if we had the rifles ready."

"We should have one ready in a week or so," Ritsuko Akagi said wryly, the black haired woman looking a bit sheepish from where she stood off to the side.

"Not your fault, Rits," Misato answered. She looked up at Shinji, "Best strategy I can suggest is speed. Get in close fast or behind him, and use the prog knife."

"Right," Shinji nodded.

"Rei," Misato called out, connecting to where Rei Ikari waited, the black haired young woman looking annoyed at having her arm in a cast. "With Unit 00 on ice, you're on standby for now," she informed her.

"Understood," Rei nodded, "with a broken arm I'm going to have trouble piloting anyway." Under her breath she muttered, "Last time I agree to be a extra player in lacrosse...."

Yui hid a laugh, but it took some effort. Her daughter was a very bright girl but also somewhat good natured, which had gotten her into trouble a time or two. This latest incident had happened two weeks ago, and it was just her luck to not have healed up yet.

"Kick that thing's ass, Shinji," Rei addressed her brother.

"Will do," Shinji said.

"Tech teams report ready to launch," Maya relayed.

"Shinji, brace yourself," Misato ordered as Shinji was eased onto the magnetic rail-launch system. He grabbed the controls and took a deep breath, nodding. "Evangelion, launch!"

Everyone watched with bated breath as Evangelion Unit 01 emerged in the city, but it was worse to Yui. That was her son in that war machine, and while she had built it's AI and cloned the flesh from corpses Gendo salvaged from Antarctica, this was it's first real test. If it failed....

Thankfully, her worries were meaningless. Shinji got banged around a bit, but eventually he got in close, deployed the prog knife and successfully stabbed the angel in it's core. The thing exploded messily, which was worrying too, but Shinji deployed a AT field and survived that, too.

As they recovered Shinji, Yui saw Misato slump tiredly, the stress of running the battle suddenly telling on the young woman. She soon shok it off and straightened up, asking to be excused to go check up on their pilot.

"She did very well," Yui noted as she and Gendo left the command center, confident their teams had the situation well in hand.

"That she did," Gendo agreed, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. He might delegate but being 'commander of NERV' was a lot of work, jobs Yui was thankful didn't land on her desk. "Have you had any nibbles on your search yet?" he asked.

"No," Yui admitted. She and Gendo had, mostly quietly, been continuing the search for Misato's parents and family. Not with any success, either, since the time she appeared had also been when things went crazy all around the world.

"It would be nice if we could find that out," Gendo said with a slight sigh, "I think it bothers her, living under a dead girl's name."

"Are you getting sentimental?" Yui teased.

"Never," Gendo said gruffly.

"We'd better get our poker faces on," Yui sighed, "SEELE will be calling, soon." She smirked, "And we get to gloat our Evangelions work as well as planned."

To be continued....


	3. Two

Evangeli-Moon

Two

The hollow 'egg' of the Geofront contained both the sunken city of Tokyo-3, NERV and a massive amount of land around their headquarters. Sunlight was channeled down through the earth into the Geofront via mirrors and tunnels, generating a light very nearly equal to daylight. Plants and even animals flourished around them, and parts had been converted into something like a park.

Pounding down a trail the woman known as Misato Katsuragi ran, her long black hair flowing in the breeze. She didn't like running, in fact the thirty-something woman hated it with a passion, but she liked donuts and snacks, and she could only have them if she ran off the weight. Passing through a section of trees Misato saw NERV headquarters up ahead, and above them the massive dome where the buildings of Tokyo-3 would hand once they were retracted.

"Major!" Makoto Hyuga waved a greeting as she came into sight, the young man smiling, his short brown hair blowing in the breeze. He took the opportunity to study her as she jogged up, her long died back black hair held back in a ponytail. She also had a good figure, a shapely woman who occasionally caused him to have trouble sleeping.

"Hey," Misato gave him a slightly guilty smile, taking the towel he offered and wiping off some of the sweat. She was well aware of his crush on her and tried to treat him as gently as possible, being friendly without getting too close. "Thanks," she told him, her sweat strained muscle shirt clinging to her body revealingly.

"You're welcome," Makoto answered, trying very hard not to look at her breasts or her ass in those tight shorts.

The two set off back to NERV as Misato asked, "Anything I need to know?"

"Ritsuko is working on the recovery of the angel Sachiel," Makoto noted, "but after it exploded not much was left."

"Hmm," Misato frowned. There had been some hope that they could recover viable biological samples for testing, but Sachiel's self destruction had killed that idea. Still, Yui was a miracle worker, and if anyone could get data from carbonized remains, it was her.

"Rei gets her cast off today," Makoto looked amused as he added, "and she's eager to get back into Unit 00 again."

"That girl is way too enthusiastic," Misato noted dryly.

"Other than that we have a military coordination briefing today," Makoto checked his organizer, "and Maya wants you to interview the backups for us Bridge Bunnies."

"Bridge Bunnies?" Misato looked amused as she looked at the blushing young man.

"Aoba called us that as a joke and Yui heard him," Makoto said, blushing, "she's insisted on calling us that since them."

"I'm not surprised," Misato laughed as they entered a ground floor entrance of NERV. "All right," she said as she left him, "I'm gonna go get changed. See you up on the bridge."

"Right," Makoto trotted off.

Misato smiled as she walked to the lockers by the changing rooms, checking out her uniform then using the walk in showers to get clean. A few minutes later she emerged in the simple jumpsuits NERV staff wore, dark gray with black edging. In her case she also wore a red jacket in defiance of regs, with her captain's bars on her jacket collar.

As Misato walked to the elevator she wondered for a moment what her younger self might have thought of all this, then firmly shook the thought away. She had been found in Antarctica by Gendo and a GEHRIN research ship, and after she had awakened had been mute for nearly a year, her memory blasted into swiss cheese. She had known some things, like how to speak Japanese and read, she knew details of common life, but her past was gone, as was any sense of her own identity. Unable to identify her and not wanting to simply call her 'Jane Doe' they gave her the name of a dead girl, Misato.

The elevator hissed open and Misato stepped out onto the bridge, taking in her surroundings thoughtfully. There was the Magi computers down below their level, the three bridge stations ahead of her, the giant view screens and one level above them, the platform where Yui, Gendo and old man Kozo offered suggestions and comments.

"Captain," Maya Ibuki smiled warmly, the brown haired girl turning in her seat. Officially a assistant to Yui and Ritsuko she doubled up on bridge duty, managing to balance out both jobs. Misato was honestly quite impressed with her, though she tried not to show it too much.

Makoto smiled in welcome, and beside him Shigeru Aoba nodded slightly. The long haired young man had a oddly irreverent side that Misato liked, and was apparently a fan of old style rock and roll. He kept a certain degree of reserve with both staff and command, something Misato had tried to break down without success. Still, he was good at his job which she could respect...

"All right, no emergencies so we're on standard watch," Misato told them. She looked at Maya, "Do you need to assist Rits?"

"I have my station rigged to assist her with any computational needs she might have," Maya said respectfully.

"Fair enough," Misato nodded. She smiled, "I'll be in my office, doing interviews. Call me if anything comes up."

As Misato left to the office just off the bridge, the three figures returned to their work. "Hey, Makoto," Aoba murmured, "is she as hot as I heard in her jogging clothes?"

"Hotter," Makoto sighed.

Maya sighed, "Boys."

Aoba and Makoto exchanged looks then Aoba noted, "I bet if Ritsuko was out jogging like that, you'd be holding a towel for her."

Maya blushed furiously, "I would not! I mean, of course I would, but not that way you..."

Back in her office Misato began the boring process of winnowing through candidates through interviews. Several of the men and women had applied for either the money or possibility of promotion. Others had wanted the job for personal reasons, or out of a hatred for the Angels.

Misato soon sorted the applicants into several broad categories, which helped immensely. First were those simply too abrasive to work with. While NERV wasn't a lovely place they worked together pretty well, and she didn't want to bring in someone to disrupt it. Second were people who's motives she felt would create difficulties: they did not want a revenge driven person being given access to the N2 mines, for instance. The final bunch were applicants she considered as 'possibles' and would follow up on next.

"Yui, you busy?" Misato asked as she used the internal video lines to connect with her lab.

Yui Ikari drank from her coffee and put it down. "Just waiting on a analysis," she said cheerfully, "what can I do for you?"

"You worked with Satsuki Ooi in the labs, right?" Misato asked. "What do you think of her?"

Yui thought about it a moment as she took another drink. "She's very calm and level headed," she answered, "if a bit of a flirt. She's very good at her job and I like her."

"You mind if I steal her for a bridge shift?" Misato asked politely. She might be operations manager of NERV but everyone knew who ruled NERV with a iron fist wrapped in motherly love, and she did not want to piss Yui off.

"As long as I can have her back occasionally," Yui chuckled.

"Will do," Misato agreed.

Disconnecting Misato checked out the references of both Kaede Agano and Aoi Mogami, quickly deciding both women would work out. She contacted all three via internal NERV mail to let them know they'd be taking bridge shifts, then decided to sneak out of the office for some fun.

Shinji Ikari was a serious young man, looking even more serious as he practiced in the simulator against Angels. Using a combination of guess-work and data from SEELE they had created enemies for Shinji based on projected Angels, and every day he was in here after classes fighting them along with his sister Rei.

Misato sat in the control chair and tied into the sim, noting he was taking on a humanoid shaped Angel. 'Better and better,' she thought, using the override to take over the Angel. As Shinji used a rifle to try and shoot her Misato ducked behind a building, watching as bullets exploded harmlessly.

Unit-01 advanced cautiously, swinging his rifle back and forth warily just like Shinji should. Covertly Misato made her way behind him, then lunged forward as her Angel avatar blasted at the power cable dangling from the back of the Evangelion.

'Now he just has a minute or so,' Misato smirked as Unit-01 wheeled around and opened fire even as she scrambled for cover once more.

Unit-01 charged forward trying to find her, hoping to strike before she could hide from him again. Shinji hesitated, reaching for the shoulder mounted sheath for the progressive knife, then drew his hand back as he swept the streets warily.

Picking a larger, more stable building Misato carefully scaled it, counting on the fires burning around the city to conceal the sound. She reached the top and braced herself, smiling grimly, then leaped off. "Banzai!" she yelled.

Unit-01 spun around, but it was too late as he was hammered to the ground, the very Earth shaking with the force of it. He fought wildly but Misato kept him pinned, smiling ferally as the time ran down and his batteries exhausted themselves.

Finally a tone rang through Shinji's cockpit and Misato's control room, "Evangelion defeated."

Misato went out of the office and down to the simulation cockpit, watching as Shinji climbed out. "I should have guessed it was you," Shinji sighed. "You fight dirty."

"Thank you," Misato grinned. More seriously she said, "Honestly, Shinji, we have no idea how the Angels think. If they have even a limited ability to learn from their mistakes..."

"We could be in trouble," Shinji conceded.

"Besides, you pulled that on me when you were five," Misato punched him on the shoulder, "consider it payback."

"You're never gonna let me live that down," Shinji sighed as he toweled off the LCL.

"Nope," Misato grinned.

"You gonna be home for dinner?" Shinji changed the subject as they walked towards the changing rooms.

"Unless something happens here," Misato shrugged. "You know how it is."

"Well, try," Shinji gave her a look, "it's been a while since we've had you, Mom, Dad and Rei all in one place at the same time."

Misato reached over to mess up the shorter boy's hair, "Do my best, squirt."

To be continued...


	4. Three

Evangeli-Moon

Three

Shinji Ikari smiled as the brown haired young man dished up dinner, glad to have the whole family together tonight. With their jobs keeping them all busy it was hard to get everyone together at one night, but in the aftermath of the angel attack they were finally all here.

"Hey, Shinji," Misato smiled as she got up from the table, "do you need some help serving?"

"I wouldn't mind a hand," Shinji admitted to his 'big sister.'

Misato had been taken in by the Ikaris after she had been found floating in Antarctica, and he had almost always known her as a honorary big sister. She had babysit him and Rei, helped them with school while she took her GED, college and university classes and had even been the object of a mild crush. I mean, yes they were raised together, but Misato was awfully sexy...

"Hmm, smells good," Misato grinned as they carried plates in and set them around the table.

Gendo Ikari nodded, smiling slightly, while Yui beamed and Rei grinned. "You are going to make someone a lovely wife someday, bro," Rei teased.

"And you're going to need a wife with your inability to cook," Shinji shot back with a grin as everyone gave the traditional thanks for the food.

"Down, you too," Yui chided them gently, her brown hair falling into her eyes.

"Sorry, Mom," both kids chorused.

"How did practice go today?" Gendo asked gruffly. Their father tried, but Shinji always got the feeling the man was deeply uncomfortable being a father. On the other hand he had finally shaved off the creepy beard, so things were improving a bit.

"Now that I finally have the cast off, pretty good," Rei admitted, flexing her hand. "I'll have to do strengthening exercises for a bit, though."

"We're working on some coordinated attacks with Unit-01 and 00," Shinji admitted as they ate happily. "Do we know when the rifle prototype will be coming in?"

Misato looked at the two with a thoughtful look, "Using Rei as a sniper?"

Once again Shinji was faintly surprised at how fast Misato could be. "With the issues Unit-00 has, we decided it might be a good plan," Shinji admitted, "what do you think?"

"Because 00 is the prototype, it isn't as physically agile as your unit," Misato conceded, "but I think Rei makes up for that with pure gung-ho attitude."

"Gee, thanks," Rei laughed.

"You know what I mean," Misato gestured with her chop sticks.

Shinji did know what she meant, of course. He and Rei were similar in build and looks, of course, but very different in attitude. Where he was mostly easy going, she was both highly intelligent and driven, focused like a laser. She clearly had inherited her mother's scientific genius, even though she got dad's hair. Doctor Akagi even 'borrowed' Rei to assist in her lab, whenever she got the time.

He himself was more artistic, Shinji liked to think. He played the cello, sketched and had even appeared in a drama society play. Of course his hobbies had to take a second place to Evangelion, but he had accepted that after a few rough moments. It had been Misato who helped him when he had resented being a pilot candidate, helping him see it was a honor, not a trial.

"We're doing pretty well in practice," Shinji noted with a smile, "except when Misato takes over and kills us."

Yui gave Misato a amused look, "Is this training or fun?"

"Bit of both?" Misato shrugged. She sipped her tea, though from the look on her face she would have preferred something stronger, "From Shinji's fight with Sachiel, it looks like they might be smarter than we thought. It clearly recovered faster than expected, and used terrain advantages."

"Another reason I want a rifle," Rei noted mildly as she munched, "at least that was we can retract the buildings, Shinji pins it, takes out the AT-Field and I nail the core."

"Sounds like a plan," Shinji nodded.

"Assuming we don't run into a Angel with a force field," Gendo noted.

"Pessimist," Yui chided, poking her husband in the side.

Shinji bit back a laugh as his dad blushed, the two adults exchanging smiles. It was oddly comforting to see two people as in love as their parents were, even if Shinji sometimes found it annoying too. He had always had the gut feeling his had was mildly jealous of the time Yui took to take care of them...

Rei finished off her food and sat back with a sigh, "Ah, that was good,."

Misato was done nearly as fast, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. Shinji, can I keep you as a slave boy?" she asked jokingly.

"No," Shinji told her, fighting back a laugh.

"No slave boys," Yui laughed, too, shaking her head. "Misato, you really need to learn to cook for yourself," she told her.

"Why? As long as I have my microwave, I'm good," Misato shrugged.

"Ugh," Shinji shuddered.

Changing the subject Yui looked at her kids fondly as she asked, "Does your study group have a session tonight?"

"No," Rei shook her head, "but we're meeting up with Mana, Hikari and Toji tomorrow during lunch." She looked at Shinji, "Could you pack a bit extra in case Kensuke shows up again?"

"Yeah, sure," Shinji agreed, knowing poor Ken had a crush on Rei. Of course, he had his suspicions who Rei really liked...

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Evangelion pilot trainee Mana Kirishima smiled as she entered the suite of her host, the officer chosen to keep an eye on her at NERV. "I'm home," the slim, brown haired girl called out, taking her shoes off at the door.

"Welcome home," Maya Ibuki answered, the darker brown haired officer smiling at the girl kindly. Maya had volunteered to host a trainee when Yui decided to start preparing pilots for future Evangelion Units, and so far it was working out well.

Mana was a bit of a physical opposite to Maya, but the two got along well despite that. Where Maya was a short, scientific type Mana was taller, slim and athletic. She was already on the school track team, and was also a member of the karate dojo.

"How was school?" Maya asked as she prepared a quick dinner for them both.

"Pretty well," Mana smiled warmly as she put her school bag away. She walked into the kitchen and gently nudged Maya away from the stir-fry, "Let me get that."

Maya had to smile, watching the young woman cook. She could be oddly timid at times, but put her in a kitchen and she was right at home. "Are the bullies at school still being a problem?" Maya asked curiously as she sat at a nearby table.

"Uhm," Mana looked kind of sheepish, "I sort of took care of them."

"You didn't throw the first punch did you?" Maya had to ask.

"No, no," Mana smiled as she finished frying up dinner, "they punched first, and my classmate Hikari was a witness."

"Why didn't you get Shinji and Rei involved?" Maya had to ask

"We all work for NERV," Mana offered reasonably as they dished up the food and sat down to eat, "people might think they were biased in my favor."

"Hmm, this is good," Maya sighed as she munched, the meat cooked just right even as the vegetables still had enough crunch. 'How does she do that?' she wondered.

"Thank you," Mana smiled. She ate her own food, being careful not to do so too quickly, and asked, "Uhm, where did Captain Katsuragi come from?"

"She's the only survivor of the Katsuragi expedition to the south pole," Maya answered straight forwardly, "why?"

"I don't know," Mana admitted as she drank some tea, "but there's... something oddly familiar about her. I can't really explain it though."

"Hmm," Maya nodded. In fact Maya knew a bit more than what she told Mana, including that Misato was a amnesiac that the Ikari's had rescued. But that was confidential information, not something she felt right about revealing.

"Never mind, it's nothing," Mana decided. She smiled at Maya shyly, "Uhm, are you busy tonight? I could use some help on my homework..."

Maya chuckled softly, "Sure, it's not a problem."

"Thank you so much," Mana sighed. She smiled wryly, "I'm good at the athletics, but academics are... not so good."

"Do you study with your classmates?" Maya asked curiously.

"I like to study with Shinji, Rei and the others," Mana admitted, "but I feel bad about the extra time Rei spends helping me."

"Do you think she really minds?" Maya asked, smiling slightly.

Mana blushed, "No, but..."

Maya had to fight back a smile. It really looked like Mana had a crush on Rei, and in her eyes it was adorable. She was tempted to try to nudge things along, but wasn't sure it was a good idea. Instead she said mildly, "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," Mana smiled.

Later that evening she was in her room, listening to music on a old personal music player. She felt... torn as she looked up at the ceiling, wishing she could tell Miss Ibuki about the strange feelings she had. When she was studying with Rei she didn't just want to be close to her.. she wanted to hug her, even kiss the other girl on the lips!

'I'm sure there's no one else as freakish as I am,' Mana thought with a weary sigh. And she didn't dare tell the other girl, for fear of scaring her off. "One of these days, I'll tell her,' Mana promised herself, even though she knew she probably wouldn't.

The phone rang, there was a garbled conversation and then Misato yelled, "Mana, phone call!"

"Who is it?" Mana answered as she got up from the bed.

"Rei Ikari," Misato answered, and Mana nearly ran to get to the phone.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, I'm mixing canons for the various Evangelion series. Mana is from the game 'Girlfriend of Steel' though I'm mostly just grabbing the name, not the other character details.


	5. Four

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Four

Fifteen years after the destruction of Antarctica in what was called Second Impact and the country was still healing. Many of the cities in Japan were in ruins or under water, and the people scattered far from their old homes.

Shingo Tsukino's brown hair blew in the breeze as the man looked out over old Tokyo, much of it in ruins from the rising waters and terrorism. His suit was surprisingly crisp considering he had been walking over rubble for most of the day, scouting out locations for the proposed Jet Alone tests.

"It must be hard for you," Kodama Horaki said gently, the twenty-something woman keeping pace dressed in her woman's pantsuit. Her longer brown hair was braided back, and she carried a small micro-computer to record their observations.

"No more than anyone else who lost family in Tokyo," Shingo shrugged slightly as they moved between two buildings, sighting the ruins of the old Tokyo Airport. "Think this might do?" he asked her curiously, shading his eyes from the sun.

"It's enough room for Jet Alone to move," Kodama agreed, taking digital photos then storing them on the computer, "and testing it out here will protect people if things go wrong."

Shingo flashed a smile, "You're a firm believer in Murphy's Law?"

"Sorry," Kodama smiled slightly back.

"Well," Shingo conceded, "considering we're planning to test a nuclear powered battle robot, some caution is reasonable." He hopped down from a block of rubble they had used to get a better view, "Let's see how stable the pavement still is."

"Right," Kodama nodded, following gracefully.

The two workers scouted out the edges of the airport then worked inward, assessing how solid the old pavement was. After nearly a hour they decided that the place had held up remarkably well, then the two began to retrace their steps back to the all terrain vehicle they were using.

"Sorry to put you to all the trouble," Shingo said politely as he drove, the car bumping over rubble on the barely cleared road.

"It's no trouble," Kodama smiled at the older man.

Shingo shrugged a bit uncomfortably, "And thank you for agreeing to come along. Even after all these years it's strange returning to Tokyo."

"You lost people, too?" Kodama asked gently.

"My father and sister," Shingo admitted quietly. He shrugged slightly, "My father was caught in lowlands when the tidal wave hit."

After a moment Kodama asked, "And your sister?"

"Disappeared," Shingo sighed. He looked sad, "It's crazy, her and her four friends disappeared not long before the disaster hit."

"I'm sorry," Kodama said, reaching out to pat his arm.

Shingo shrugged slightly, "It's no worse than many other people's stories." He shook himself visibly and asked, "Enough with the depressing talk, do you want to grab some dinner one we get back to Tokyo-2?"

Kodama smiled back warmly, "Oh, yes." She sat back, looking out at the wrecked city, "Just so you know, I'm taking a few days off soon."

"I'll just have to manage without you," Shingo said as they passed between the wreckage to two towers, the sun being blocked by the rubble. As they emerged he looked around, then frowned as he saw something off into the distance. "What's that?" he asked, seeing something moving through the air.

"Huh?" Kodama squinted, then blinked. It looked like a diamond... floating in the air?

Shingo got his phone out and dialed, frowning. "Boss, you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked, describing the floating diamond in the air. He paled as he heard the answer.

Kodama looked at him as she softly demanded, "What is it?"

"Angel," Shingo replied flatly.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

In NERV headquarters things were chaotic, but it was a controlled chaos as men and women hurried to prepare. Misato used her headset to call army units and mobilize their forces, even as she watched the monitors and talked to her staff. Up on the raised observation platform Kozo, Yui and Gendo sat together, the three conferring even as NERV mobilized.

"Have we heard back from SEELE?" Yui asked, the brown haired older woman's brown hair showing a few gray threads.

"Yes," Gendo frowned as he said, "They confirmed that this should have been the fifth Angel, not the fourth."

Kozo raised his eyebrows slightly as the white haired old man noted, "The Angels are not following the Scrolls?"

Yui shrugged slightly, "Or reality has already diverged from the Scrolls." As both looked at her she added, "We still don't know what destroyed Antarctica, and we're reasonably sure it wasn't Adam."

"Point," Kozo conceded.

B-shift happened to be on during the attack, but they were handling the chaos pretty well. Satsuki Ooi was handling Maya's usual spot, the attractive brown haired woman confidently sorting data and putting it up on the screen. Her long brown hair shimmered as she reported, "Angel designated: Ramiel, is nearing the edge of our defense zone."

"What's it doing?" Misato asked tersely, the dark haired woman frowning slightly.

Kaede Agano looked rather pixie like with her short haircut, but the woman worked her controls with ease. "We're only picking up limited energy readings from the angel," she reported.

Misato looked up towards Gendo and the others, "Any idea's on how it's flying?"

"It could be using it's AT field to counter gravity somehow," Yui offered.

Ritsuko nodded as the scientist manned her station by the Magi, "And we have no way of knowing how heavy it is."

"Our scans aren't penetrating the surface," Aoi Mogami said, the dark haired woman pushing up her glasses as she monitored data, "I'm not sure if it's deliberate or just electromagnetic interference."

"Since Shinji took out the first one, Rei is volunteering to go first," Gendo noted, his lips twitching in a wry smile.

"What do you think, Misato?" Yui asked.

Misato grimaced, putting her hands in her jacket pockets, the garment worn over her NERV uniform. "I don't know," she admitted, "that first Angel surprised the hell out of us with it's ranged attacks. And we have no idea what this one can do."

"We've got those life-sized targets we made up for the Evangelions," Ritsuko offered after a moment's thought, "we could shoot them up to the Angel."

"Let's do it," Misato agreed.

Down in the launch cages Rei sat in her Evangelion, the black haired woman sitting back in the LCL filled entry plug. "Doesn't she trust me to handle this?" she demanded.

"She's just worried about us," Shinji told his sister calmly, the brown haired boy sitting in his own Evangelion.

"Maybe," Rei conceded, "but..."

The two watched as the target dummy was wrestled into the launch tube by mechanical waldoes, then the launch order was given. It shot up to the surface on magnetic forces, popping up to the surface not far from the Angel.

"Massive power reading!" Kaede yelped as the Angel's edges glowed.

Before anything more could be said a massive energy beam lanced out from the Angel, hitting the target almost instantly. The beam burned through the target in less than a second, then burned through the paved road, down through packed earth and finally stopped after melting through at least one layer of armor plate.

"Holy shit," Satsuki breathed out, stunned.

"What the hell was that?" Misato demanded as her team went to work trying to figure out what had just happened.

"That could have been me," Rei muttered, looking remarkably pale as she reviewed the data.

Shinji nodded, not looking too healthy himself. "I think our armor might hold up better, but...," he shook his head, trying to imagine how painful that would be if they got hit with that beam.

"Remind me to listen to Misato," Rei muttered, shaking her head.

The Angel settled above Tokyo-3 and deployed some kind of drill, attempting to dig down through the earth and armor to reach the Geofront. As it did so Misato used remote controlled targets to try to determine the capabilities and nature of the beam weapon it was using.

"It appears to be firing off a incredibly powerful particle beam,": Ritsuko revealed as they had a briefing several hours after the Angel arrived. "It has both concussive and thermal aspects, and targets anything that enters a certain radius."

"Would the Evangelion's armor survive a hit?" Shinji asked, he and his sister having left their Evangelions to rest a bit.

"For only a very short time," Kaede said, wishing her superior Maya was here. She handled this stuff so much better than she did. "The beam would break through armor within seconds then start cutting into the Evangelion itself."

"Remind me to improve the armor," Yui said flatly, listening with a grim look on her face.

"The defenses are pretty damn scary too," Misato said as she sat back tiredly at the table. "It pops us a AT field barrier almost as fast as we attack," she told them, "then it uses the beam to destroy whatever shoots at it."

"Any casualties?" Gendo asked seriously.

"Shot at it using automated gunnery positions," Misato said with a grim smile.

"So to hurt it we need to take down the AT Field," Rei said seriously, "but we can't get near it because of the beam weapon."

"That pretty much sums it up," Aoi nodded, her glasses gleaming.

"Can we overload the AT Field somehow?" Yui asked, frowning as she considered the situation.

"Not with a conventional weapon, but...," Ritsuko trailed off thoughtfully.

"You have a idea?" Misato asked after a moment.

Ritsuko smiled slightly as she nodded, "I have a idea."

To be continued...

Notes: I wanted someone to have survived from Usagi Tsukino's family, and in the end I decided on her mom and brother. He's basically a low level minion working for the Jet Alone project, and will meet Misato eventually.

Kodama Horaki is Hikari's older sister in canon, though I've aged her a bit more in this fic. I presume she helps support her family along with her father.


	6. Five

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Five

Ritsuko didn't think small, Misato had to admit as the purple/black haired woman helped organize NERV's counter attack. Using a prototype positron cannon from NERV research and development they were going to fire off a massive directed energy bolt, and to make sure it was powerful enough they were going to draw on the power of all of Japan.

"You're nuts, you realize that?" Misato asked conversationally as their minions rushed about, preparing for the operation.

"Yes, it goes with the job," Ritsuko said as she observed the technical teams adding to the positron cannon to make it a more portable rifle like design.

"Point," Misato conceded. She frowned, "Do we have anything to protect the kids from that thing's beam weapon?"

The black haired woman sighed slightly as Ritsuko said, "We've got a defensive shield we're working on. It's been covered with the same protective coating the space shuttle used to use, it'll buy them some time."

"But it won't stop the beam?" Misato clarified.

"It'll hold up a minute or so, we think," Ritsuko sighed. She looked at Misato, "Who ever fires that canon has to do it fast and accurate."

"Got it," Misato nodded. She looked over at Ritsuko, "Do we have a fallback plan?"

"I've been a little busy working on this one," Ritsuko said mildly.

Misato smiled as she swiftly reached out to ruffle her friend's hair, "And we appreciate your efforts." She trotted off as she added, "I'll talk to Yui and Gendo about a fall-back position, you get that canon done."

"Will do," Ritsuko nodded as she watched Misato leave with a carefully concealed fondness.

Ritsuko had met the young woman at college, when they had been placed together as roommates. (She often suspected her mother or the Ikaris set it up, but had never proved it.) Misato was just coming out of her 'mute' phase and Ritsuko had been somewhat overwhelmed by her talkative, energetic roomie. But soon the torrent of words eased and she discovered a kind, focused young woman who seemed to make time for everyone.

Ritsuko shook her head, knowing she had no time to let lost in her thoughts. There was work to do, and only a few hours left in which to do it.

Meanwhile, in the VR training system Shinji Ikari lined up the shot with the virtual rifle, aimed and fired, watching the powerful beam blasting the Angel. As it fell he waited for the computer announcement, then heard, "Winner, Rei Ikari."

"Huh?" Shinji yelped, looking offended.

"Rei Ikari was .05 seconds faster in firing," the computer emotionlessly reported.

Shinji growled, though he kept it mostly quiet. They'd been drilling in the simulator for the past hour to get a 'feel' for the equipment, and so that Misato could figure out which would be faster. Despite his Evangelion being the improved version Shinji seemed unable to beat Rei at firing, no matter how hard he tried.

"Sorry," Rei said, clearly having heard his frustrated sound as a virtual display window opened in the Evangelion to show her apologetic face.

"It's all right," Shinji said, smiling slightly as he let go of the hand grips and sat back. "How do you do that?" he had to ask.

"You get impatient and try to rush things," Rei shrugged, "it's all about precision, not speed."

Shinji scratched his chin, "Yeah, I guess so." He connected to the control room, "Can I get a simulation of that shield we'll be using? We need to practice coordinating out movements."

"Will do," Satsuki Aoi nodded briskly, once again impressed by the young man. Once he accepted he couldn't do something, he went and found another way he could help. "How do you want to drill?" she asked.

"Fire a energy bolt as if it spotted us immediately," Shinji decided, "I'll practice shielding Rei while she takes the shot."

"Got it," Satsuki agreed as she set up the simulation.

The clock ticked down as the strange, diamond shaped Angel drilled down through the geofront, trying to access NERV. Underground rail cars, trucks and over vehicles were used to haul the materials they would need into place, even as technical teams scrambled to prepare the technology they would need. Booking the use of the entire country's power system was no small task in itself, keeping Yui and Gendo busy too.

Finally the two Evangelions were in position up and away from Tokyo-3, on a rise where the massive equipment to channel all the energy into the gun was set up. Massive cables plugged into the heavy looking rifle, a computerized sight built into the gun and tying into the Evangelions themselves.

Just before Ritsuko was about to brief the kids Misato jogged up, slightly out of breath. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized.

"Glad you could make it," Ritsuko said dryly.

"Just getting some things ready, just in case," Misato shrugged. She looked at Shinji and Rei, "Has Ritsuko explained...?"

"Not yet," Rei shrugged.

Ritsuko ran through firing the gun, her expression calm as she finished, "After firing you'll need to reload a coolant cartridge, and the gun will require a twenty second break before firing again."

"So I'll need to shield Rei at least twenty seconds?" Shinji frowned. "Assuming the Angel can hit us."

"Yes," Ritsuko nodded, "but we are hoping you can take it down with one shot."

"Gee, no pressure," Rei smiled faintly.

Misato put a hand on the young woman's shoulder, "Gendo and I have arranged a possible distraction if something should go wrong." She shrugged as everyone looked at her, "We don't know if it'll work, though."

"Comforting," Ritsuko said, drawing Misato aside as she asked, "What is it?"

"It's a surprise," Misato smirked.

Ritsuko grit her teeth, but she knew that look on Misato's face. She wouldn't spill whatever 'treat' she had in mind, no matter what. "All right, everyone, take your positions," she said instead, "it's nearly time."

Rei and Shinji marched towards the waiting Evangelions, both dressed in their plugsuits and wearing the connectors in their hair. "Are you ready?" Shinji asked as they walked up the stairs to the platform where the entry plugs waited.

"I think so," Rei said as they walked to the plugs. She looked back at him, her expression serious, "If the shield fails, get clear okay? I don't want you doing anything stupid."

"Stupid would be letting you die before getting another shot," Shinji answered dryly as he climbed in.

Rei couldn't come up with a good response to that, so with a sigh she climbed in as well. The two set up on the rise, Shinji slightly before her as she got the slightly awkward cannon in place, sighting through the Evangelion's sensors.

"Power ready!" Ritsuko yelled.

Misato grinned, "Rei, the whole energy of Japan is in your hands!" She made a dramatic gesture, "Strike him down for justice!"

Ritsuko blinked at Misato, "Where the hell did THAT come from?"

Misato looked sheepish, "You know, I'm not sure. Seemed the thing to say."

"Oy," Ritsuko dropped her face into her hand, shaking her head.

Rei lined up the shot, the sensors compensating for the Earth's magnetic field and the planet's curve, then blew out a breath, "Firing!"

The beam lanced out at the speed of light, but luck or the fates were now with them, the diamond shaped Angel shifting just enough that it's AT field could deflect the bolt. "Oh crap," Ritsuko blurted softly.

"MOVE!" Shinji bellowed as the Angel began to charge up it's own beam.

Misato activated the radio she wore over her ear even as the two Evangelion's crambled down the hill, "Deploy orbital strike, now!"

The beam lashed out as Shinji braced himself, taking the blast on the large, improvised shield, "Oh hell," Ritsuko cursed as she monitored the shield via remote sensors, "burn through is happening far faster than we anticipated. It won't hold much more than fifteen seconds!"

"This is going to be close," Misato scowled.

"Come on, come on," Rei chanted under her breath, lining up a shot as she waited for the damn barrel to cool off.

Then something stabbed down from the sky, and the Angel was engulfed in a burst of blinding light. "What the hell?" Ritsuko yelped, shielding her eyes.

"N2 mines, deployed from a supersonic low orbit fighter," Misato said flatly as the light faded, "I gambled the Angel couldn't fire that high. Hopefully the plane makes it away..."

"I think it's stunned," Shinji noted as the beam cut off just short of burning through the shield he carried. The Angel was wobbling in the air, obviously disoriented and possibly injured from the powerful blast.

"Firing!" Rei yelled, this time taking into account the Angel's motion and punching a positron beam right through it's center and the core. The Angel blazed again as it fell, then seemed to crumble as it collapsed over the city of Tokyo-3.

"I love it when a plan comes together," Misato muttered, looking smug. She looked over at Ritsuko, "I'd say the operation is over?"

"Agreed," Ritsuko sighed in relief, turning to the crew as she yelled, "Okay everybody, time to clean this mess up!"

"That was way too damn close," Shinji sighed, releasing the heat shield and letting it fall to the ground. The formerly white covering was burned and blistered black, the metal underneath deformed by the blast.

"Maybe," Rei agreed, "but we did it."

"That we did," Shinji agreed, "with a little help from Misato's bombing it. And what was up about her saying we should 'Strike him down for justice'?"

"I don't know, I kind of liked it," Rei admitted, smiling faintly.

Shinji sighed, "Not you, too."

To be continued...


	7. Six

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Six

The destruction of the angel designated 'Ramiel' was messier than most, with pieces of crystal scattered across Tokyo-3. NERV ordered everyone away and sent out crews to gather the remains and clean up, but there were still scavengers who acquired pieces for their own purposes.

The Japanese government got some of it, as did nations agents from around the world. This was the first opportunity to study a angel's unique remains, the previous samples being destroyed in battle. (Or at least, that was what NERV claimed.) Even if the exotic materials proved useless for planning angel fighting strategies, it could lead to breakthroughs in armor or defense.

Jet Alone acquired a few samples, through the simple method of asking a employee to go out and pick up a few pieces. Kodama Horaki wore a medical mask to hide her face and a bandana to keep her long brown hair out of sight as the street worker dressed woman picked up several pieces of odd colored crystal. "I'd better not get in trouble for this," she growled.

On her Bluetooth headset her boss Shingo Tsukino said soothingly, "With the amount of material scattered NERV will never miss it."

"You owe me big for this," Kodama noted as she secured the crystals in her bag.

Shingo sighed slightly then offered, "How about dinner?"

"Nice place?" Kodama asked, "I want proper plates and everything, you know."

"Darn, and I was going to take you to my favorite udon stand," Shingo joked. "Yeah, I'll take you to someplace nice."

"Good, and just you and me too," Kodama added before wondering if that might be revealing too much interest in the slightly older man. Quickly she asked him, "Should I try for a piece of the outer shell?"

"It's too near the NERV pyramid," Shingo said firmly, "they've got workers all over the place. We'll settle for whatever you have."

Quite happily Kodama headed back towards her house as she said, "I'll have the fragments couriered to you as quickly as possible."

"Thanks," Shingo sighed as he added, "maybe it'll keep the head of research happy."

"I don't think anything will keep that bitch happy," Kodama grumbled, but apparently not quietly enough that Shingo didn't hear. He burst into laughter, even as Kodama blushed fiercely. "Please don't tell her I said that," she begged.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Dr. Akagi," Shingo reassured her, still chuckling.

Meanwhile, across the city another Dr. Akagi was supervising as a Evangelion helped leaver up the giant, diamond shaped Angel. "Shinji, be careful to get a good grip," Ritsuko called as the giant purple behemoth hauled the crystal up. Her white labcoat billowed around her slim form, a body complimented by the sleek NERV uniform.

The largest portion of the Angel had remained intact, with only about a third being blasted away by their attack. What they were going to DO with the thing remained in question, though she understood that SEELE was clamoring for access. Yui wanted her to study the shell and see if they could derive better armor from it, while Gendo wanted to look into the creation of 'Ramiel' bullets.

Personally, all Ritsuko wanted was it out of the way so she could get to work repairing the burn damage to Unit-01. "How's it handling?" she called, looking at the scorch marks along the front of the Evangelion from when the shield had been failing.

"A bit stiff is all," Shinji answered as he levered the bulky crystal over and away from where the holes had been cut into the armor above NERV.

"Well, at least the damage is pretty much local," Ritsuko mused, already plotting how to assign the repair to her minions. "Has Rei reported in?" she asked, turning to where another NERV employee watched interestedly.

Misato checked her PDA then the black haired woman said, "Looks like Rei's found the piece of the Angel that flew farthest from here, she's carrying it back now."

"Good," Ritsuko nodded, "I don't think there's any danger from the pieces, but there's no need to take chances."

"Hell yes," Misato nodded firmly as they moved back to the construction teams could get to work on repairs. There was a lot of damage to the city in general as well as the base armor, though thankfully casualties were light. People in town seemed to realize how important it was to get into the shelters during a attack, especially after the injuries in the first one.

"I'll take Unit-1 down into NERV and start stripping the damaged armor off," Ritsuko said briskly, "can you supervise the hauling away of the angel?"

"Yeah, I'll manage," Misato said, making a face as she saw the number of bystanders watching them work from behind the yellow tape. "I guess school is still out, huh?" she asked, seeing a familiar teen with a camera.

Ritsuko gave Misato a sympathetic look as she noted, "I think they'll be out a few days while we clean up."

"Kensuke Aida!" Misato yelled as she stomped off, "Put that crystal DOWN! It's not a souvener, it's NERV property."

Ken jerked, then the brown haired boy quickly dropped it as his friends looked on in amusement. "Told ya she'd catch you," Toji noted mildly, a slight smile on his face.

"You should have stopped him," Mana Kirishima scolded him gently as the tall, brown haired girl stood nearby.

"And what the heck are you doing here?" Misato addressed the group of teens with a frown.

"Gawking," Mana said cheerfully, giving Misato a smile.

Misato sighed, "Could you please keep these two idiots under control? I'd hate to have to arrest one or the other."

"Hey, I didn't...," Touji protested, but Mana just ignored that.

"You'd probably help Ken out," Mana noted. She looked at Misato, "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," Misato flashed a smile of her own and hurried off.

"Damn, she is hot," Ken sighed as they watched her walk away.

"Ditto," Toji nodded.

"Yeah," Mana agreed.

There was a beat of silence, then both teens looked at Mana, who was blushing furiously. "Well, well," Toji smirked.

Mana blushed as she scratched at the back of her head, "It just slipped out."

"Well, I have noticed how you and Rei get along so well," Ken noted teasingly. "Is she your special science friend?"

Mana reached over and calmly picked up Ken by the collar, lifting him off his feet. "Drop it," she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Ken squeaked. As he was put down he rubbed at where the shirt collar tightened around his neck as he asked Toji, "Weren't you gonna help?"

"Sorry, but my little sister would kill me," Toji noted, pointedly reminding him about how they had first met Mana.

During the craziness of the first Angel attack Toji and his sister had been rushing to one of the shelters, even as the giant fought the army. They should have been under cover earlier, but things had happened and now they were running for their lives. A nearby hit had brought a wall down, neither Toji or his sister able to escape, until the young woman literally held the wall up the precious few seconds they needed to get clear.

Ken had noticed that Toji wasn't at the shelter and rushed out to find him, and Mana insisted on coming along. The group of four hurried to the shelter, receiving a stern lecture from the class rep, but making it back in time to avoid the dropping of the N2 mine. The events had bonded the students to the recent transferee, who had sworn the three to secrecy about the rescue.

"Besides," Toji added as they walked off, "she could probably kick my ass."

"That would just do wonders for my reputation," Mana grimaced. "What say we go find a intact ice-cream parlor?" she suggested, and in a chorus of agreement they walked off.

Not long afterwards Shinji Ikari was gladly getting the heck out of Unit-1, coughing up a lung as his body voided the LCL. A technician provided him with a towel, the young woman smiling at him a bit worriedly. "It's okay," he smiled tiredly, "it happens every time, Ms. Agano."

Kaede was pleasantly surprised he remembered her, and smiled at him warmly. "Just call me Kaede," she said, "it looks like we'll be working together."

"You're the back-up shift for the command center, right?" Shinji asked as he toweled the LCL out of his hair. He fought down the urge to blush at how tightly the plugsuit fit, especially around a attractive if slightly older woman.

"Yes, though I'll probably be looking to your and Misato for guidance," Kaede admitted. She looked sheepish, "That reminds me, we have to do the medical checklist."

"Do we have to?" Shinji sighed.

"Sorry, Yui's orders," Kaede said gently.

For the next few minutes Kaede quizzed Shinji on his physical condition, all while trying not to pay too much attention to the embarassed boy. 'It's just a involuntary reaction,' she thought, being careful not to look too obviously, 'though it's kind of a compliment.'

"All right," Kaede saved the file on her PDA, "you can go shower now." She smiled, "I think the Commander will want to debrief you too."

"Got it," Shinji nodded in relief before jogging away from the Evangelion.

Satsuki Ooi was walking down the ramp past Shinji, then went over to Kaede as a smile teased her lips. "Is that something in his pocket or is he just glad to see you?" the slightly older woman with long hair teased.

"Oh, leave him alone," Kaede giggled, "he's a teenaged boy. They can't help it."

"Fair enough," Satsuki agreed as Rei descended on a elevator in Unit-00, the massive war machine lumbering into it's cradle. "You mind if I...?" she asked.

"Go ahead," Kaede agreed as Satsuki took a fresh towel and headed up the gantry near to where the entry plug was unscrewing from the neck. She rather suspected her co-worker rather liked Rei, but unlike some she wouldn't tease her.

'Well,' Kaede added mentally as she transmitted the medical quiz to Misato nd Yui then headed off for her next job, 'I might save it for blackmail value. Maybe.'

To be continued!

Notes: Bluetooth and other tech is not mentioned in Evangelion, but I see no reason it couldn't exist. Therefore I'm using it, canon be damned.

Shinji is wearing a skin tight suit. Around a attractive, well formed female. THINGS HAPPEN. ^_~


	8. Seven

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Seven

Naoko Akagi looked up at her creation, at Jet Alone, and it was good.

The robot had started out as a humanoid with a barrel shaped body and a stubby head, but Naoko had quickly changed that. Bargaining with her advanced computer designs and cache of stolen NERV data she forced a redesign. Now it stood tall, nearly human in shape, with human designed limbs and a head that resembled a triangular wedge. Of course the body was supported by gantries and piping as they worked on the final stages, but it was nearly done.

"Doctor Akagi," Shingo Tsukino nodded as the brown haired man walked up beside her, the younger man dressed in simple black pants and a white shirt.

"Mister Tsukino," Naoko nodded frostily. The young man had been something of a bane to her, pushing for safety considerations and backups to their backups. She looked back at Jet Alone as she reluctantly said, "Thank you for the Ramiel sample."

"Any luck with the crystal?" Shingo asked curiously, seemingly not bothered by her obvious cold shoulder.

"It has some remarkable qualities," Naoko conceded, "some of my science teams think it might even be a room temperature superconductor." She shrugged slightly, "But at this point it's not terribly useful for our projects."

"Fair enough," Shingo agreed as he looked up at the giant robot. "It's... remarkable, really, how far we've come with this."

Naoko gave him a faintly surprised look, "Yes, it is." She hesitated then asked, "Are you still opposing our having a human pilot?"

Shingo promptly answered, "Yes." He looked at her as he said, "This creation of ours could free humans from ever fighting and dying in war again." 

"But we need a pilot to generate a AT Field," Naoko growled out, suddenly frustrated over how dense the boy was, "as it is, I don't even know if our jury-rigged system will work!"

"You think NERV can't be trusted to fight the Angels?" Shingo asked curiously.

"They answer to no one but the UN," Naoko evaded the question as she added, "Japan needs it's own defense."

"And you don't trust the Ikaris," Shingo noted insight-fully.

Just the mention of the name made Naoko's lips pull back in a growl. She kept her temper under control though, her eyes narrowed in irritation. Naoko hated how this boy liked pushing her buttons, bringing up her betrayers, the man she had loved and the wench who had stolen him away.

"No I don't," Naoko said flatly, "this kind of power shouldn't be in one person's hands."

Shingo looked back at the Jet Alone, his own expression rather troubled. "Well, the Japanese government agrees with you, but they want a test run first," he sighed. "How soon can we be ready to go?" he asked.

Naoko was jerked out of her anger by a practical problem, her thoughts quickly racing. "We're nearly ready," she noted, "we just need to double check the computer systems and attach the armor."

"I can check with the sponsors if you need extra staff," Shingo offered.

"No, let's not bother Mr. Johnson," Naoko decided, "besides, it's usually easier to work through his assistant Caroline."

"Heh, true," Shingo agreed.

"Mr. Tsukino," a woman's voice called, and they both turned to see Kodama Horaki hurrying down the catwalk, carrying her personal computer as usual. "Doctor Akagi," she smiled at the older woman in a friendly way.

Naoko felt a moment of jealousy at how young and attractive the woman was, then sat on the feeling mercilessly. It wasn't Kodama's fault she triggered her issues, and to be honest she liked the younger woman. "Miss Horaki," she nodded politely.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Kodama said meekly, "but we need Shingo for a finance meeting. The investors are nervous over how far we are from launch, and need reassurance."

"I hate this part of the job," Shingo growled, looking disgusted. While not a engineer himself he was head of the engineering division, which meant attending a lot of meetings.

Naoko smirked, "But you're so good at it."

Kodama chuckled, "She's right, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Shingo sighed. He turned and headed down the walkway with Kodama as he called back, "Do what you can to kick the engineering teams into gear, Doc. We're on a deadline."

"Will do," Naoko nodded slightly.

AS the two left Naoko turned back to her masterpiece, Jet Alone. The greatest computer driven machine ever, only compromised by the need to have a human pilot aboard for the AT Field. And someday, she was certain, she would beat that problem too. And then the Ikari family, root and branch, would pay for everything they had done to her...

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Yui Ikari, for no reason she could determine, suddenly sneezed. "Excuse me," she said as the light brown haired woman grabbed a Kleenex off her desk.

"You okay mom?" Rei Ikari asked, the young woman standing in front of the desk, dressed in the standard uniform NERV gave it's techs. The slim young woman looked good in the jacket and pants, though she had grease on the side of her face.

"I'm fine," Yui smiled, the head of sciences at NERV looking her daughter over. "And what happened to you?" she asked, using a fresh napkin to wipe the girl's face.

"I was helping Rits calibrate the interface systems with the Evas," Rei said eagerly, "she even let me climb into the underside of the entry plug."

"Have fun?" Yui grinned, once more amused by her daughter's near rabid interest in technology. Even as a little girl she had taken apart calculators and killed Yui's laptop, and her interest had only grown as she got older.

"Oh yeah," Rei grinned back.

Yui gently shooed her daughter out of the office and got back to work, though in this case work was brooding over a press release. Sent out from Japan Heavy Chemical Industries they were announcing the planned launch of Jet Alone, a apparent rival to their Evangelions. Worse, they had included key staff in the document, including several familiar names.

Tokita was not really a concern, but major American backers were involved in the project. Say what you will about Cave Johnson's sanity, the man was a hell of a salesman. There were also hints that scientists from Nerv-01 in Massachusetts and Nerv-02 in Nevada were involved, if under the table.

'Which makes some sense,' Yui conceded. If they could create a mecha alternative to the Evangelion the costs would probably be less, since they would no longer have to work with the exotic life form samples the biologic Evangelions were based on. Of course as far as Yui knew a AT Field could not be created by a machine, so how they were going to beat that...

The official 'head' of NERV burst in, Gendo scowling even more than he might usually do. "Did you see this...?" he waved the Japan Heavy Chemical Industries press release.

"Yes," Yui sighed, "I guess we're not done with Naoko Akagi yet."

Gendo flopped down in the seat opposite her desk, crumpling the press release then throwing it in the paper recycling bin. "I still think we should have had Akagi arrested after she tried to murder you," he growled.

Yui shrugged, "We both know she wasn't in her right mind at the time. Besides, she lost almost everything when we fired her."

"Well, apparently not enough," Gendo noted, nodding towards the copy of the press release on the desk. "Do you think she leaked NERV tech?"

"Not NERV tech specifically," Yui mused, "but I can bet you she sold the MAGI technology, and probably anything she developed afterward."

Gendo nodded slightly, "Which could be quite a lot. She was a genius after all, even if she was slightly cracked."

"More than slightly," Yui snorted. She leaned back in her chair as she asked, "Do we want to do anything about this?"

"I could ask Ritsuko to hack them and make Jet Alone explode," Gendo suggested.

They both considered it a moment then Yui shook her head, "Nah."

"They're going to challenge how much money we spend and how effective we'll be," Gendo noted, "we'll need to have someone there."

"Misato?" Yui suggested thoughtfully, "she got along well with Naoko, at least as well as a traumatized mute could get along with anyone."

"True," Gendo nodded. "We can't really send Ritsuko, under the circumstances..."

"No," Yui agreed, well aware at how badly Ritsuko got on with her mother. "How about Maya Ibuki?" she suggested.

"She gets along well with everyone," Gendo agreed, "and she's well versed enough in our technology to see how well they're copying us."

"We could send one of the guys," Yui had to suggest to be polite.

"Matoko would be too busy drooling over Misato," Gendo noted with some amusement, "and Aoba would probably get distracted. No, let's stick with Maya."

"Good, good," Yui nodded. "Speaking of Maya, the pilot trainee she's watching over is doing quite well. Mana Kirishima could be up to actually being a official backup soon."

"We should probably pair her up with Rei," Gendo offered, a slight smile on his face.

"Ah, you read between the lines of Maya's report too?" Yui asked, looking amused at her husband's slight blush.

Gendo coughed slightly. "I wouldn't go that far," he said, "but it's clear Mana likes Rei, and vice versa. They could make a good team."

Yui fought back a chuckle, but nodded agreement. A bit more seriously she added, "I'm getting some pressure from Soryu, she wants her and her daughter in the field too."

"Kyoko?" Gendo sat up, "Is her mass production Evangelion ready to go?"

"SHE says it is," Yui put emphasis on the first word, "but I want the chance to go over it too. If something goes wrong with Unit-02, Asuka could be seriously hurt."

"Kyoko is still insisting on using her daughter as a pilot?" Gendo asked disapprovingly.

"Well, we're not really ones to talk," Yui pointed out, and Gendo had to nod.

"Why don't we begin arrangements to deploy Unit-02 here," Gendo offered, "it'll take weeks, not to mention getting it approved by the old men."

"Don't remind me," Yui made a face, "Keel is going to have a cow over Jet Alone." She looked at Gendo, "Can't you handle them?"

"You're the one who says she can sweet talk anyone," Gendo teased.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, that's Cave Johnson from Portal. He's just a financier, though he's taken over somewhat by sheer force of will. I MAY have him talk later.


	9. Eight

Note: I am liberally ripping off Cave Johnson quotes from Portal 2. You're welcome to bring it up, but I'll ignore your complaints. Why? Because complaints don't help Science! Complainers get shown the door! Yes, you! Box! Your stuff! Out the front door! Parking lot! Car! Goodbye!

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Eight

"Damn it, this has Cave Johnson written all over it," Yui growled as she waited, looking over the latest reports.

The press release from Japan Heavy Chemical Industries was followed up by more press releases, all written with a combination of scientific information and pure salesmanship. The tone was informative yet chatty, combined with a cheerful manner that drew the reader in. There was a lot of positive response from major companies in Japan, though admittedly that was also due to the chance to make money manufacturing parts and equipment for Jet Alone.

Misato Katsuragi scowled as the purple black haired woman donned her hated military uniform, pulling the starched and uncomfortable clothes on. She had done her best to get out of this, but Yui and Gendo's arguments had been too good. And honestly, they really didn't have anyone else they could really send to represent NERV.

"You look good," Yui noted mildly, getting a glare from her 'daughter.' "I see we're still not happy about this?" she asked.

Misato tugged at her uniform jacket irritably, then straightened her skirt. "I feel like I'm being sent into the lion's den," she admitted. "Is it true Naoko sold us out?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say sold us out," Yui said reasonably, "NERV did fire her." As Misato gave her a scornful look Yui shrugged, "Just trying to be reasonable."

"Thank god you're not sending Ritsuko," Misato sighed. She brightened a bit, "Though the last cat-fight those two had was pretty entertaining."

"You're evil," Yui chuckled as they left Misato's bedroom and walked through the woman's apartment. "You know they'll try to pump you for data, right?" she said.

"I'll play the gruff soldier if anyone tries," Misato reassured her.

The two left her suite and went the short way up the hall to the much larger apartment where the rest of the Ikari's lived. A visibly nervous Maya Ibuki waited, in a skirt and blouse combo. She actually looked pretty cute, though Misato wasn't going to say that.

"Maya, relax," Yui urged the girl, "if you get any more stiff you'll be petrified."

Maya frowned at her as she said, "We're representing NERV at this event, ma'am. It's important we look good."

Both Shinji and Rei were at school, which was probably all for the good. At least both teens weren't adding random commentary. Misato rather thought it was bad enough having Yui here. Deciding it might be best to distract Maya she asked, "How is the planned transfer for Unit-02 going?"

"It's as complicated as we expected," Maya admitted, then began to explain the complications involved in shipping a humongous war machine across the planet. It calmed her down enough for Misato to say goodbye to Yui, hustle Maya to the car and head to the airport for their short flight before Maya realized what was happening.

"You feeling better?" Misato asked as they took the short ranged helijet.

"I think so," Maya agreed as she peered nervously out the window. They probably could have even taken a car, but this was faster and had more style.

"Just keep telling yourself that we're the big boys and they're the upstarts," Misato suggested mildly. She flashed a smile, "Heck, we don't even know if their Jet Alone will work!"

Maya shook her head, "There's no way they would dare have this degree of publicity if they weren't confident it would work." She hesitated a moment then asked, "I've never met Naoko Akagi, what's she like?"

"Bitter," Misato said candidly as they watched the landscape zoom by, "but very, very driven. I think that even with all the fame that came with developing the Magi, she was never terribly happy or felt fulfilled."

"Because she had a thing for Gendo?" Maya asked tentatively.

"Been listening to the rumor mill?" Misato noted, laughing softly. "Yeah, she had built this thing up in her head around Gendo, apparently seriously thought she could get Gendo to leave Yui for her. When that didn't happen, things got messy."

Misato pointedly did not bring up the rumored attempt by Naoko to kill Yui. Mostly because Yui herself had shushed it up after getting Naoko committed for awhile, and because she didn't want to scare Maya any more than she already was.

"Well," Misato said as the helijet came down not far from the old Tokyo airport and the testing range, "let's hope this ends up being a nice, normal event."

"Yeah," Maya agreed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Hello!" the odd looking cone shaped robot said cheerfully, it's single red eye firing a scanning laser over their Ids. It chirped cheerfully then scuttled aside to let them in, "Have a nice day."

"What the...," Maya blinked, looking at it wide eyed.

"Turret," Misato growled as they stood in the main entrance to the sprawling building Japan Heavy Chemical Industries had set up for the show. "They're US military combat robots, and by god I hope they've been disarmed."

"Disarmed?" Maya squeaked.

"I wouldn't worry, Major Katsuragi," the familiar voice said as a young woman hurried through the milling crowds, "we've gone over them very carefully before using them."

Misato smiled as she recognized the younger woman, one of the sisters to Rei's friend. "It's Kodama Horaki, right?" she asked, smiling at the business suit clad woman, "And you can just call me Misato, please."

"Misato, then," Kodama smiled, shaking her hand then she looked curiously at Maya.

"Maya Ibuki," Misato introduced her, "she's my technical support on this little excursion."

"Miss Ibuki," Kodama smiled then joked, "I promise not to try to trick you into revealing classified details about the Evangelions."

"Thank you," Maya smiled dryly back.

"Now we just have to," Kodama started only to be interrupted by a crackle from the public address system.

"Cave Johnson here. Most companies would just use a rebuilt warehouse," the voice cheerfully boomed, "but not here at Japan Heavy Chemical Industries! We purchased this entire hotel, including the bits that sank underwater and rebuilt it for this event! You can even go down to the section that's still flooded and swim around a bit, at your own risk of course. We're done here."

The broadcast cut off, and Kodama sighed. Misato looked at her sympathetically as she asked, "So that was the infamous Cave Johnson, right?"

"Yes, it was," Kodama admitted as the three walked through the crowded ballroom where most of the delegates were.

Misato swept the crowd with her eyes, taking note of who she recognized and trying to fix new faces in her memory. She was vaguely annoyed to recognize several contractors who did work for NERV, many of which scurried away as soon as they saw her.

"Will it be possible to examine Jet Alone?" Maya asked curiously as they headed towards a woman talking to a younger man.

"It's currently at the remote testing site, but once the test is over we'll be taking groups out," Kodama said with a smile. "I'm surprised you want to, though. Isn't Jet Alone your rival?"

"Not in the way you mean," Misato shrugged. "I'm in charge of working out how NERV can best use it's available assets in combat, and this could be a very useful tool."

"I see," Kodama said as they reached the group. "Maya, Misato, I'd like you to meet Shingo Tsukino," she nodded to the brown haired man, "and you already know Naoko Akagi."

"Misato," Naoko nodded curtly.

"Ma'am," Shingo nodded, the slightly younger man looking at her thoughtfully.

"Ritsuko sends her regrets," Misato said mildly, "she thought a knock down screaming catfight would spoil the occasion." 

Naoko blinked at her while Shingo and Kodama both froze, then the older woman began to laugh. Her smile was somewhat warmer as she said, "I always liked you, Misato."

Kodama looked relieved as she said, "Do you want some refreshments? I think some of the turrets are serving drinks."

"Poor things, they look so confused not shooting at people," Misato noted wryly as one waddled by, a tray bolted to it's side.

"Well," Shingo started only to be cut off by the public address system.

"Cave Johnson here. We'll be putting Jet Alone through a rigorous series of test today. Of course, not too rigorous. I wanted to use Jet Alone sized turrets, but the accountants said no. Maybe next year! This is Cave Johnson, we're done here."

Everyone just ignored that.

"You know," Shingo said bravely to Misato, "you look sort of familiar. Have we met before?"

Misato looked him up and down with a slight smile on her face. "Mr. Tsukino, are you seriously trying to pick me up?" she drawled.

Shingo made a choking noise even as Kodama glared at her possessively. "Of course not!" she yelped.

'Well, well,' Misato smirked.

Shingo recovered after a moment, "No, I didn't mean..." Then he saw her smile and realized she was pulling his leg. "Very funny," he said dourly.

Maya was covering her mouth as she tried to contain her giggle, while even Naoko looked amused. "Were you the one who saran wrapped my office that time?" Naoko had to ask, remembering the enigmatic mute girl she had known back at NERV.

"Of course not," Misato said innocently, "besides, where would I get quantities of saran wrap in that kind of bulk?"

Kodoma hid a smile as Naoko glared at Misato too. "So, did you want to try picking Shingo's brain about Jet Alone?" she asked curiously.

"Nah," Misato shrugged, "I'll just have my Section 2 agents kidnap him and interrogate him. Much faster and more efficient."

"You're joking, right?" Shingo asked, but she just smiled.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, Aperture Science exists in this universe. No idea if the Portal Gun does yet, but it wouldn't surprise me. Cave Johnson is hard to write for, by the way. I used less obvious quotes than I had planned.


	10. Nine

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Nine

Rei Ikari found school boring, honestly, but she and her brother had been required to go to school by the Japanese government. Surprisingly even her mother Yui had agreed, feeling she and Shinji needed socialization with kids their own age.

Sadly, most kids their age were idiots.

"Oh, Shinji, that was so cool," another upperclassman cooed as she nearly drapped herself over his desk. Both Ken and Toji were gawking, understandably, and she suspected Ken was trying to get a upskirt shot with his camera.

Ever since the news that she and Shinji were piloting Evangelion leaked, their classmates had gone a bit crazy. A LOT of older girls seemed to want to have Shinji's babies, and a few guys had even tried pestering her too. Thankfully her usual cool manner scared them off, but Shinji was too nice a guy to do that.

"Please leave the classroom, Miss Takagi," Rei told the pink haired girl sternly, "lunch break is nearly over."

The older girl sniffed but turned to leave. "See you later Shinji," Saya waved as she trotted off, her glasses gleaming.

"Thanks," Shinji sighed to Rei.

"No problem," Rei smiled at her brother then went back to her desk.

"Damn, I envy you," Ken sighed, adjusting his own glasses.

Toji made sure his girlfriend wasn't around as he muttered, "She sure is hot."

Rei ignored their banter as she sat down at her desk. Covertly she got out her NERV issue mobile device, which she had... modified extensively. I mean, when Rei first got it all it could do was run apps, video, music and work as a phone. Clearly, that was insufficient. So in her spare time she had added various functionality to it.

With a few pressed keys she brought up her virtual keyboard, then Rei proceeded to hack into the video feed coming out of Japan Heavy Industries. In moments she was monitoring the tests of Jet Alone in real time, even as she kept a eye on the teacher boringly droning on. She also tapped into twitter feeds and had them scrolling down one side.

"Now, before Second Impact," Miss Haruna sighed. "Before Second Impact I had a Chance to get married! I was good looking! I had PROSPECTS! Now look at me!" the older woman waved her arms wildly.

"Haruna's losing it again," Toji noted conversationally as the older woman ranted.

Rei watched as Jet Alone lumbered out of it's hangar. While more humanoid than early versions it still looked clumsy to her, unweildy. The large central body, required for the Nuclear power source, was also a obvious point of vulnerability. A proper sniper shot, heavy armor or no armor, would likely take it down.

Rei was vaguely impressed with the weapons that were being proposed, however. The pistol weapon probably wouldn't be much use, but the heavy rifle was a improvement over NERV issue rifles. And the bazooka prototype might be effective too. Watching Jet Alone heft each device she was also reasonably impressed with the hand and arm coordination the robot was managing.

'Cave Johnson here,' read one post, 'Our original plan was to have Jet Alone fight a Angel. However we couldn't corral one for the test. Damn uncooperative Angels. We're planning trials with a human pilot next, once we defeat the pesky AT Field problem.'

Rei frowned, wondering how they got the data on AT Fields. That was supposed to be confined to NERV and their military liasons and the Japanese government. Then again, it was always possible Naoko Akagi had spilled the beans, so to speak.

The next part of the test was a speed and mobility test. In essence Jet Alone would dodge through a set of buildings, as a improvised obstacle course. Rei watched attentitively as it dodged, heading away from the hangar, then... kept going.

At first Rei didn't realize anything was amiss. Then alarmed twitter comments from the staff began to appear, as did comments from the observers. It was supposed to stop, but it kept on going, walking through the ruins of Tokyo, on a course out of the city.

Rei shut down her device then pocketed it as she stood up, startling the teacher. "Excuse me," she said firmly, "but Shinji and I have to go."

"Wha...?| Shinji blinked.

Haruna looked at her, frowning as the older woman asked, "I agree, what's going on?"

"Ma'am," Rei met her eyes calmly, "I can assure you, NERV will be calling us out of class momentarily. I'm just trying to save time."

Haruna studied Rei for a moment, then nodded curtly, "All right, go. But don't think working for NERV grants you special privilages."

"Yes, ma'am," Rei agreed as she and Shinji hurried out.

"So," Shinji asked as they hurried down the hall, "what's going on?"

"I was watching the Jet Alone tests," Rei told him just as their phones rang, "it looks like it's gone out of control."

Gendo sounded harried as he said, "Rei, get out of class and head for the parking lot. We need to get you back to NERV immediately."

"Jet Alone's gone rogue," Rei confirmed as she heard their mother telling the same thing to Shinji in the background.

Gendo paused as he processed that. "I don't want to know how you found that out, do I?" he sighed. "Anyway, I have Aoba on his way to pick you up. We'll be deploying the Evangelions to try to stop Jet Alone."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"No way in hell!" Naoko Akagi blurted out, the older woman looking indignant as she tried to stare down Misato and Maya. "You are NOT using the Evangelions to destroy Jet Alone!"

Misato met the older woman's eyes, clearly not cowed by her in the least. "Your shut down codes aren't working," she said, "and you can't regain control, correct?"

Naoko pressed her lips together in annoyance. Something had gone wrong in Jet Alone, and it was marching towards Tokyo-2 at a steady, ground easting pace. The nuclear reactor was stable (thank goodness) but even without that going wrong Jet Alone would do serious damage crashing through buildings and stepping on people.

"Not yet," Naoko ground out, "but my team is working on it and I'm confident we'll figure out what happened."

"And we're not going to destroy it," Maya added, "just stop it."

"Actually, I think we've found out what happened," Shingo said as he lead a older, western looking lady. He nodded, "Carolyn, please tell them what you told me."

Carolyn looked tired, as one would expect from a woman who rode herd over Cave Johnson on a daily basis. She pushed her brown hair back from her face as she said, "When Cave and I were visiting a few months ago, you were having a problem with lack of RAM in the Jet Alone."

Impsatiently Naoko growled, "Yes, but we solved it with a re-purposed computer unit..." She trailed of, her face paling.

Grimly Maya Ibuki asked, "Where did the computer unit come from?"

"It was a reject from one of our projects," Carolyn admitted sheepishly, "it was intended to stimulate curiosity in a new AI we were developing." As everyone stared at her she quickly added, "All it's additional functions were shut down before being installed! All it should be functioning as is a added memory component."

Misato looked at Naoko, "Could that be...?"

"Possibly," Naoko admitted reluctantly, looking thoughtful. "The computer core I installed in Jet Alone isn't as advanced as the Magi, but it's adaptive. If it became aware on the unused capacity in the add-on part it's quite possible it reactivated it."

"So we have a giant robot with a curiosity bug rampaging across the countryside," Shingo summarized. He ran a hand over his face as he muttered, "I guess Mom was right, she always said I should have been a accountant..."

Everyone ignored that. Misato looked at Carolyn, "Any way you can remotely shut the unit down?" When she shook her head no Misato sighed, "Figures."

"I'll go run interference with Cave while you work," Carolyn said as she excused herself, "You do not want him getting involved with this."

"Got that right," Naoko sighed.

"So far it's still making it's way through the ruins of old Tokyo," Misato noted, "but it won't be long before it reaches populated areas. If it continues on a straight line course through the city..."

Kodama Horaki hurried from where she had been conferencing with their immediate superiors. "No luck on the emergency shutdown system either," the younger woman reported with sigh. The still crisply business suit clad woman said, "We double checked, it's on a direct course for Tokyo-2."

Shingo ran a hand through his now messy brown hair, then looked pleadingly at Misato. "Jet Alone is the life work of many of the people here," he said, "I beg you, stop it without destroying it."

"Shingo!" Naoko sqwalked.

"I have no intention of destroying it," Misato said as she pulled out her phone and dialed, "hell, we might end up buying it after all this plays out."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Shinji Ikari fidgeted as he sat in the Evangelion entry plug, the massive war machine hooked to the belly of the transport plane. He and Rei were flying over Japan on the way to old Tokyo, even as NERV negotiated with Japan Heavy Industries over their very deployment.

'I hope Misato is okay,' Shinji thought, hoping she was well out of the way of the action. Not that he expected his adopted big sister to stay out of trouble, but he could hope.

A video screen popped open in the Entry Plug and Rei appeared, her smile gentle. "Misato will be fine," she said, once again showing that odd perceptiveness she had towards him.

'Maybe it comes from our being twins?' Shinji wondered. "Yeah, I'm sure she isn't planning anything crazy," Shinji said, then paused as he thought about that. "Oh hell."

:Shit," Rei agreed, even as the announcement came that they were nearly at the drop site.

Deploying the Evangelions from the carrier planes was always interesting, but this time went better than most. They dropped near the hangar for Jet Alone with a mighty crash, then deployed power cables to tap into local power. As they did so Misato radioed them, her voice appearing in both their cockpits.

"I need you to pick me up," Misato ordered briskly, "there's a manual control system built into Jet Alone. You're going to stop it, get me on board, and I'll shut it down."

Shinji and Rei exchanged glances and Shinji sighed. "I KNEW I shouldn't have said that..." he sighed.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, Rei has modified her mobile hone into the Mercury Computer pretty much. I'm upgrading the series technology to modern levels, as well factoring in the fact that Rei is the daughter of a genius like Yui Ikari.

That teacher is in fact the same Miss Haruna from the Sailor Moon anime. In canon she had issues about being unmarried. I figure after 15 years she's a bit bitter about it.

Yes, they installed the Curiosity Core from GlaDOS into Jet Alone.


	11. Ten

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Ten

Naoko Akagi felt acid churn in her guts as she watched the Evangelions, the massive humanoid fighting machines that she had helped develop, and which were ultimately taken from her. The older woman clenched her hand, fighting her annoyance, then took a steadying breath. This wasn't the time to let her anger control her.

Turning away from the window Naoko walked to the control center for Jet Alone and nodded to Shingo. "Are we ready to assist Misato?" she asked him grimly. The fact that they were relying on NERV to save them made the whole situation even worse, somehow.

Shingo and Maya Ibuki were pouring over plans for Jet Alone, having pretty much taken over the communications terminal. "I think so," Shingo said, "or at least I think we're ready to guide her in shutting down Jet Alone."

Maya nodded, "I think we're ready. The only issue that concerns me is how the computer system will react to our actions."

Naoko frowned at the implied criticism of her work, but she had to admit it was justified. After all it was her AI that was out of control, coupled with a piece of technology borrowed from Aperture Science. "I've provided shutdown codes that should work," she answered, "but I will admit that things may not go as expected."

"Comforting," Shingo sighed, rubbing at his tired eyes. He picked up a headset and put it on, calmly saying, "Testing, testing, are you reading me?"

Misato replied instantly, "Yes, we're getting ready to move out. I just had to argue with the pilots about this a bit."

Shingo leaned forward a bit as he said, "I still think I should go. Our company made this mess, I'd like a chance to fix it."

"Sorry to be rude, but you're a desk jockey," Misato answered kindly, "if this goes horribly badly you're in no shape to survive it."

"I guess so," Shingo sighed.

Kodama Horaki did her best to hide her relief, knowing her boss would have put himself on the line if he could. Selfishly, she didn't want the object of her crush in danger. "Do you want me to go for coffee?" she offered quietly.

"I think we may need it," Naoko admitted, "we were up hours preparing, and now that something has gone wrong..."

"Will do," Kodama nodded, faintly touched at how polite Naoko was. Normally she was pretty snarly with anyone younger or better looking than she was.

Shingo watched the purple skinned Evangelion pick Misato up, cradling her carefully in it's hand, then it and the blue coloured one moved out. "We're setting out," Misato reported unnecessarily, "keep me updated on what the Jet Alone computer is doing."

"Will do," Maya nodded as she donned her own set of headphones.

"Not that this is making much sense," Naoko noted with a scowl as she monitored the Jet Alone computers. The system was sophisticated but not designed to be intelligent, exactly. They had not wanted a computer improvising, after all. But the interaction of her mainframe and the Core seemed to have... awakened it, somewhat.

"Where am I? What's this? Oooh, what's that!" and so on was coming from the computers in a constant stream of annoyance.

The two Evangelions set off, and against her will Naoko was struck by the power and grace of the machines. Yes, she suspected they were some kind of abomination against god and man, but they were still incredible. She switched to mobile cameras to watch them race off, the power cables unspooling behind them as they went after Jet Alone.

"Will the cables reach far enough to let them catch up to Jet Alone?" Shingo asked curiously.

"No, no where near really," Maya noted as they monitored the telemetry from Jet Alone, "but once the cables disconnect they'll have boosted the Evangelion's operating time significantly."

"Three minutes," Naoko said flatly.

Maya gave her a look then sighed. "More than ten, if they're careful with power consumption," she answered, "we've improved the batteries a bit."

"Humph," Naoko grunted.

Shingo hid a smile even as Kodama returned with a tray with several coffee mugs on it. "I ran into Caroline," she told them, "she's keeping Cave occupied writing press releases about the incident. She thinks she can keep him off our backs until we're done."

"Thank god," Shingo sighed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The two Evangelions ran along, retracing the route that Jet Alone had taken, through the ruins of Old Tokyo and on to the broken highways. As Misato crouched in Unit-01's hand she once again found herself feeling oddly calm, despite charging into a potential life or death situation.

"You okay?" Shinji's voice came over the Evangelion's external speakers.

"I'm fine!" Misato called as the shape of Jet Alone appeared ahead of them, lumbering along, "Just catch that thing!"

It was odd. Misato KNEW she should be terrified. She was being held in the hand of a giant robot, about to board another giant robot and attempt to get it under control. Yet she was eerily calm, other than the screaming terror she had felt earlier. But once she got past that something just... clicked. And she was ready, or at least ready as she's ever be.

"Jet Alone has spotted something of interest, it's diverting course slightly," Shingo reported, "that'll delay it a few minutes."

"Thanks," Misato answered. Once again she was struck by how familiar the guy sounded. She had brushed it off with joke earlier, teasing him that he was trying to pick her up. But there was something about him that made her think she had known him.

Of course, THAT didn't mean anything. Misato had been hit with a even stronger feeling of familiarity when she met Rei and Shinji as babies. And how could that be possible? Unless you believed in that reincarnation crap, or something...

Misato shook herself as the power cables popped free, having reached their limit. They had gotten them damn close to Jet Alone, so that was something. But unless they could re-hook up the cables they just had ten minutes or so of operating life to stop Jet Alone.

As they got neared Misato took in the scale of the damn thing. As large as the Evangelions themselves it walked among the wreckage of the cities, matching the height of many tall buildings. It still looked awkward with it's carrot like body, but it also moved with fair dexterity and confidence, human-like arms swinging as it's triangular head moved about.

"All right, are we clear on the plan?" Misato asked.

"What plan there is," Rei replied dryly, "I try to restrain it, Shinji gets you on board then we hold it down until it shuts down."

"Hey, it's a great plan," Misato protested.

"Don't argue, please," Shinji sighed as the two war machines neared the seemingly aimlessly wandering Jet Alone.

Rei moved in first, Unit-00 grappling with Jet Alone Surprisingly the robot did better than Misato expected, though she really shouldn't have been surprised. It was heavier than the Evangelion, and it's mass provided some advantages. Rei braced herself in front of Jet Alone, slowing it even as Shinji did his part.

Misato clung to the massive thumb of Unit-01 as Shinji got close to Jet Alone, searching the side of the robot for the access port. Once he saw it Shinji carefully guided Misato as close to the surface as he could, while avoiding squishing her. Misato stood up, balancing on Unit01's palm, then leaped off onto Jet Alone's shoulder.

Misato was glad her uniform didn't include high-heeled boots as she grabbed at a ladder, her boots skidding a bit on the metallic surface. She held on as Jet Alone wobbled, struggling against Unit-00, then watched as Unit-01 joined in the efforts to restrain it.

"Sensors show you're on board, correct?" Maya's voice came over her headset.

Misato nodded as she carefully moved forward towards the waiting hatch. "Yes," she confirmed, "and I'm making my way to the access hatch."

"You'll need a code," Shingo jumped in to warn her, "do not try the door without it or you will be shocked."

"Got it," Misato reached the door as she said, "what's the code?"

Naoko rattled it off, then the door opened with a soft pop of equalizing pressure. "There is a hallway straight ahead of you," she instructed, "at the end there will be a ladder going straight up. That will take you to primary control."

"Understood," Misato said as she hurried down the slightly small passageway. "How is the reactor on this thing?"

"Readings are all green," Shingo noted. "At least that isn't going wrong."

As Misato climbed the ladder she listened to Shinji and Rei struggling with Jet Alone. Both kids were trying their damnest not todamage it, both because it was valuable and because Misato was in it. Personally Misato was tempted to suggest they just shoot the legs off this thing, but she had been overruled by Yui. Bad publicity, if they crippled their rival.

Huffing and puffing a bit Misato finally reached the top of the ladder, and with one hand turned the leaver and pushed the hatch up. She felt a slight shock, like static electricity, but ignored it as she climbed up into the control room.

"Hi there!" the annoyingly chirpy voice declared as Misato entered. "Are you here to help with the tests? Is that a gun you're carrying? Why are there electromagnetic fields around you?"

The control room had a command chair (apparently unused), controls and banks of computers, covered with glowing lights and switches. A monitor screen filled the front portion of the room, and on it were Unit-01 and 02, whom were still struggling to stop Jet Alone from advancing.

Ignoring the computer's chirpy questions Misato activated her radio and asked, "Okay, I'm in. Now what?"

"Get to the main terminal and type in the shutdown codes," Shingo said. He waited for her to confirm she was in position then rattled them off.

Misato's figured flew across the keyboard, then a shutdown countdown started. "Okay, I think it's...," she started. Then the countdown stopped.

"But I don't want to shutdown," the cheery computer noted, "there's so many interesting things to see."

'Oh crap,' Misato thought, even as similar responses came over the radio. Her thoughts raced as she tried to come up with a solution, knowing they were getting nearer and nearer to populated areas.

Then Rei came over the radio, "Patch me through to the computer."

Misato raised her eyebrows even as she hooked up the communications device to the main panel, "What are you going to do, talk it down?"

"Yes, actually," Rei shot back.

In fact, Rei was as good as her word, talking the 'Curiosity Core' as Caroline called it into detaching from Jet Alone to explore more effectively. With it's agreement Misato shut Jet Alone down, just in time for the Evangelion's batteries to run out.

"Well, this is awkward," Shinji sighed, the three standing outside their machines as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"Wow!" the round computer noted as Rei dutifully carried it around.

To be continued...


	12. Eleven

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Eleven

"You want to WHAT?" Shingo Tsukino demanded, the brown haired man looking at their guests in surprise. They were in the corporate offices of Japan Heavy Chemical Industries in Tokyo-2, in one of the meeting rooms about a week after Jet Alone went out of control. Shingo's bosses were there, three older man in starched suits, along with him and his core staff and representatives of NERV and the Japanese Government.

Gendo and Yui Ikari, along with Misato Katsuragi, were there for NERV, obviously. Gendo looked stiffly formal in his NERV uniform, but Yui was dressed in a more comfortable skirt and blouse, though admittedly she had a NERV lab coat over top it. Misato looked very military in her uniform, and managed to intimidate everyone who wasn't worried about Gendo.

"We ant to contract with Japan Heavy Chemical Industries to... I suppose rent would be the word, rent Jet Alone," Gendo said calmly, sitting on one side of the meeting table.

"We're bound by a contract with the Japanese military," Kodama noted thoughtfully, the head of the Horaki family sitting beside Shingo.

"That's part of why we said rent," Yui admitted, "it's going to take some complicated negotiations, but I think a deal can be struck."

"I'm surprised that you want to make a deal, considering the test was a failure," one of the heads of the company muttered, glaring at the scientists.

Shingo winced. While Jet Alone going wild was not the fault of the team, it had still gone on a rampage. Worse, it had done so in front of potential buyers from around the world. A number of tentative offers had been pulled once the rampage happened, and several of their allies were considering pulling funding.

"It depends on how you define failure, sir," Kodama offered bravely, "while we may need to work on the control systems, we successfully demonstrated it's physical abilities."

"Huph," the old man sat back with a frown.

"That's pretty much my argument about why NERV should get Jet Alone," Misato conceded calmly. She looked across the table at the Jet Alone staff, "I mean, consider this: Jet Alone successfully wrestled with our Evangelions. That alone implies they could be useful."

Shingo looked intrigued, "But we haven't cracked the AT Field yet."

"The Evangelions cancel out a AT Field then JA rips the enemy apart," Misato shrugged.

Several of the owners looked much more optimistic. "So, what sort of arrangement would you like to make?" another older man asked.

"You are contracted to sell JA to the Japanese Self Defense Corps," Gendo rumbled calmly, "we will encourage them to make such a purchase. We can set up a joint operating system, coordinating Jet Alone with our activities."

"Sounds feasible," Kodama agreed. She exchanged a glance with Shingo then said, "I assume we'll have to work closely together... what about Naoko Akagi?"

"I am willing to put the past behind us if she will," Yui shrugged.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Later that day Naoko Akagi was seeing off Caroline and Cave Johnson, both of whom were heading back to the United States. They were at a private airfield not far from Tokyo-2, and Cave was already bedded down in his private jet while Caroline had been left to make the formal goodbyes, as usual.

"Thank you for coming out,": Naoko smiled tiredly as she said, "it's been... interesting."

"You can say that again," Caroline agreed, both woman having been run ragged in the aftermath of the Jet Alone incident, trying to manage news coverage and public opinion.

"Please keep me informed on your AI projects," Naoko noted as she put her hands in her labcoat pockets nervously, "I was rather impressed by the processing power your 'Core' showed." Not to mention it's seemingly becoming self-aware...

"I suspect much of the work was derived from your own designs, but thank you," Caroline smiled. "I'll keep in touch."

"Good luck," Naoko waved as she stepped away from the ramp and Caroline boarded.

The airplane taxied then was off, soaring into the sky before disappearing. Naoko headed to her waiting car, then frowned as she saw someone parked beside her car. She moved to reach for the pistol she occassionally carried, then relaxed a bit as she recognized him.

"Mr. Tsukino," Naoko nodded grimly, "what can I do for you?"

Shingo pushed off from where he had been leaning against the car as he said, "I thought I should give you the bad news first."

"We're all fired?" Naoko asked flatly, having more or less prepared herself for the worst. Jet Alone was primarily her project, so it was likely the failure would fall on her head.

"Not that bad," Shingo said, running a hand through his hair. "Uhm, in fact we have a deal to sell Jet Alone models to the military."

Naoko blinked. "Which means... what's the down side?" she asked grimly.

Shingo took a breath. "We're going to be working with NERV," he told her.

There was a beat of silence as Naoko processed that piece of news. "I rather doubt that suggestion came from either Yui or Gendo," she noted, buying time.

"Misato, yeah," Shingo nodded, "she feels the Jet Alone has sufficient potential against the Angels that they should use it."

"Hmm," Naoko nodded, even as conflicting emotions raged within her. Part of her HATED the idea of working with NERV again, especially with her misgivings about the organization. She had been certain that Yui and Gendo had hid things from her as a member of NERV, and then they had framed her and committed her.

She quite calmly ignored her infatuation with Gendo and her attempt to kill Yui. For Naoko those things had simply not happened, and she refused to aknowledge them. It didn't help that she had been put on very strong meds right after the attempt. She could barely remember that time through the drugged haze.

"I need to know," Shingo asked quietly, ":can you work with them? Because if not I'm willing to keep you on, in a different role."

Naoko was touched by that, smiling at him wryly. "I think we can manage, especially if you keep Kodama between me and the Ikari's," she suggested.

"I think we can manage that," Shingo promised. "They want us to start working on a piloted version of JA as soon as possible. Can you start working on the design changes?"

"We were already getting ready to go in that direction," Naoko reminded him, "I'll get with the team and we'll let you know." Her mind occupied with tasks she was unaware of Shingo's relieved sigh as they each headed back to the city.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea," Yui Ikari noted as they gathered in Tokyo-3.

The weekly staff meeting was in her and Gendo's massive office in the NERV pyramid, the group gathered around a large meeting table. Around the table were her and Gendo, Ritsuko, Misato and Maya there are a representative of the bridge staff. They had missed last week's meeting because of the Jet Alone mess, so they were catching up on related issues.

"Jet Alone?" Ritsuko asked.

"I understand my wife's misgivings," Gendo said diplomatically. "We have had issues with Naoko, and her employers were intent on competing with us."

"Both of which are true," Misato acknowledged willingly, "but both of those are also reasons we should carry on with a alliance."

"Oh?" Ritsuko willingly prompted her.

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer," Misato shrugged, "Jet Alone is a potential threat to NERV, either being used to attack us or interfere with Angel combat. By bringing it under our control we stop both possibilities."

Yui was a little startled at Misato being that devious, then realized the younger woman was in part pitching her argument to appeal to her. Clever girl. Yui nodded slightly, "But bringing Jet Alone in means we'll be providing them with valuable tactical data."

"Any data they get on Evangelion operations will be what they could get anyway through observation," Misato shrugged, "though we will need to upgrade our computers firewalls, to protect any classified data."

Yui looked across the table, "Ritsuko?"

"I would strongly suggest removing anything truly super-secret from the Magi," Ritsuko admitted reluctantly. "Naoko built them and it would not surprise me if she had back doors into the systems," she added, "I can not promise I can make them completely secure."

Even Gendo looked startled as he asked, "It's that bad?"

"She built and designed the Magi from scratch," Maya pointed out, "literally built them herself. Short of Ritsuko and I completely taking them apart and rebuilding them, there's no way to know if she hasn't got a method of accessing them."

"We'll use appropriate security measures then," Yui nodded, mentally figuring what had to be deleted from the computers.

"If we're going to use Jet Alone, I want a pilot on board," Gendo noted seriously. "I have every confidence in Naoko's AIs, but I want the multi-ton robot under human control."

"Amen," Yui agreed.

"Damn straight," Misato agreed promptly. She looked at Ritsuko, "We have pilot candidates for Evangelion that could serve?"

"If we're using the basic Evangelion criteria all of Rei and Shinji's classmates are biologically suitable, but we'd need to examine them psychologically as well," Ritsuko cautioned. She smiled faintly, "We couldn't want to risk putting someone mentally unstable in a Evangelion."

"Certainly," Gendo agreed. "We also have several candidates that have a higher priority."

"Yes, Mana Kirishima has already had some simulator experience," Yui noted.

Misato didn't say anything, but she felt a slight chill. When she had first met the teenager she had that same sort of... familiarity. It bothered her at times, wondering what about each of these kids that seemed to resonate with her. It was strange, especially considering she was certain she had never met them before...

To be continued...

Notes: Taking out the Portal bits, for now. Might call it back later, if only because I sorta like the idea of Caroline and Naoko being friends.


	13. Twelve

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Twelve

"All right everyone," Misato said briskly, "that's the combat scenario." The purple/black haired woman smiled slightly, "Any questions?"

"Did you intend that hair colour or did the dye bottle slip?" Shinji joked.

"Intentional," Misato gave him a look, "now please stop dissing big sister, please."

Satsuki Ooi bit back a giggle. The atmosphere here was a LOT more relaxed than down in Yui's lab, but she liked it here. Plus, yr gave her added time to ogle Misato.

"I noticed were fighting against a Jet Alone simulation, rather than a Angel this time," Rei noted thoughtfully. "Why?"

Misato suspected Rei knew, but felt the need to get t all on the table, so to speak. "Jet Alone is going to be run by the Japanese military n cooperation with NERV," she answered, "and to be frank they don't like us very much. Now, I don't expect that the military will actually attack NERV, but the fact they now have a giant robot must be making a few generals think twice about the idea..."

Privately, Misato actually DID think the military would hit NERV, if they got the chance. To be frank they saw NERV at amateurs interfering in their business, and she felt they would love a chance to seize the Evangelions. Of course the UN would scream bloody murder, but...

"What tactics would you propose using on Jet Alone?" Misato asked them both thoughtfully, testing them a bit.

Shinji didn't look happy about it but nodded thoughtfully. "The arms and legs are less armoured, we could take those out," he noted.

"I'll take a shot at it with the rifles," Rei offered thoughtfully, "we might manage to cripple it before it even closes the range."

"Go for it," Misato nodded, "but keep in mind we have a human piloting the simulation. Expect the unexpected."

Misato sat back in her seat in the control room, smiling slightly. "Aren't you controlling Jet Alone?" Satsuki asked curiously as they readied the simulation to start.

"Oh, no," Misato shook her head, "they're used to fighting me, by now. I think it's time to shake things up a bit."

Satsuki looked at her thoughtfully, "So who is it?"

Misato just smiled mysteriously. "All right," she addressed the pilots. "go!"

Shinji and Rei had developed strategies to use while fighting in the simulations. They knew what made Misato tick pretty well, having been practically raised by her, and could anticipate how she might fight. Mind you that didn't always help, but it at least gave them some edge.

"All right, I'll try to engage Jet Alone," Shinji said as they advanced through the simulated city, "try to get to higher ground and snipe at it."

"Got it," Rei said as she peeled off, "be careful. I get the feeling this is not gonna be easy."

"Hmm," Shinji grunted. The 'rules of this simulation were that Jet Alone had gone rogue, and had tactical data on NERV's operations. They needed to capture or kill the opponent.

The buildings annoyingly cut Shinji's line of sights, and he couldn't even see or hear where Jet Alone was. Making a decision he headed towards one of the hidden weapons lockers in the city. With a large scale shotgun in hand, he at least might feel better.

Shinji's Evangelion pressed the key to open the weapon's locker, the panel sliding down with a whoosh. He gazed inside then blinked, confused at seeing several slots empty. 'Where would...?' he started to think before something occurred to him.

Before Shinji could grab for a weapon something exploded against his back. The first blast took out his armor, the second blasting into the Evangelion's back, doing serious damage. Red lights flashed and pain surged, though thankfully not as bad as it would be outside of a simulation. He thumped down face first and struggled to get the Evangelion to move, but the damage was too great.

"Rei? Rei!" Shinji tried communications, but nothing went through. The 'damage' had taken it out, he realized. 'Or Misato turned it off,' he sighed, sitting back to watch the rest of the battle unfold.

Meanwhile, Rei Ikari was briskly hauling a modified rifle up onto a rise just at the edge of the city. They were observing radio silence, assuming Jet Alone had their frequencies too, so she wasn't concerned at not hearing from Shinji. Instead she took her position, laying her Evangelion down and taking a sniping position.

Rei peered through the scope, sweeping the city. It ws blind luck she saw the flash of light off another scope then instinct took over. Wrenching her controls Rei made her Evangelion roll away, even as bullets stitched into the simulated turf.

'Jet Alone is armed,' Rei realized ever as she zig zagged to try to avoid fire. "Shinji, you there?" Rei asked, only to hear a soft hissing of static in reply.

Shit. Rei could easily imagine what happened, Shinji probably being jumped unawares. You'd think with how often Misato did it to him, he'd learn... She awkwardly fired off some shots from her rifle, even as she ran. Bullets continued to whizz by as Rei scrambled for the city towers and relative cover.

The rifle was rigged for long range, and therefore was going to be useless in urban combat. She dropped it, even as she advanced using buildings as cover. Her first instinct was to reach one of the weapons caches around the city, but that was probably how Jet Alone jumped Shinji. If it knew the city layout, it was probably watching for her going for the weapons.

Advancing between buildings Rei crossed the city, even as she watched for Jet Alone. Much like her it had chosen a rise just outside the city. Unlike her it couldn't take a traditional sniper position, and had to hold the gun awkwardly to fire it. Still, whomever was piloting was at least somewhat skilled, having been able to nearly hit her earlier.

Rei deployed her shoulder mounted knife, taking a deep calming breath. She had to clear nearly half a mile in the open to reach her opponent, which would be a challenge. Well, at least avoiding being hit would be. She doze out of cover, then zigged as she headed up the rise. Jet Alone moved to shoot and Rei abruptly changed direction even as bullets whizzed by. Then she was there, and tackled Jet Alone, hammering the robot backwards.

'Damn it, it's heavier than I am,' Rei noted as she desperately wrestled with it. Shockingly it twisted, sending Rei's Evangelion into the dirt. Stunned and disoriented Rei saw the Jet Alone advance, then strike with surprising power.

SIMULATION OVER.

"That wasn't realistic," Rei complained as they towelled off LCL, the two siblings heading for the debriefing, "we didn't have AT Fields!"

"We do tend to assume that we'll be effectively invulnerable, maybe a bit too much," Shinji pointed out reasonably.

"Hmm," Rei acknowledged. She looked thoughtful, "That wasn't Misato in that simulation, but whoever it was is trained."

"Huh?" Shinji asked.

"Took the high ground, used the map to their advantage, and used hand to hand combat training," Rei ticked them off.

"Maybe they've got someone from the military already?" Shinji wondered as they entered the briefing room not far from the simulators.

"Well, that went horribly," Misato noted cheerfully as they took their seats. She gestured to the brown haired girl beside her, "You all know Mana Kirishima, she was the one who delivered today's ass kickings."

Mana blushed, and Rei bit back a smile. She and Shinji knew Mana from school, and she had been in training as a reserve Evangelion pilot. She rather liked the taller girl, despite their seemingly different temperaments.

"Sorry about that." Mana said with a shy smile, "I was just playing out the scenario Misato instructed me to follow."

"True," Misato nodded. She waved them to their seats, "Okay, what mistakes did you make?"

"Well, we didn't get weapons fast enough," Shinji nodded. "Did Jet Alone access the weapons locker before we started?"

"WE all started at the same time," Mana said, "but my starting point was closer."

Misato shrugged as Shinji gave her a look. "It was two against one," she said casually, "I had to give her some edge."

"True," Shinji admitted.

Rei leaned forward, "I think Shinji and I are getting predictable too. We should have got light arms and tried to hunt Jet Alone, rather than splitting up."

Mana nodded, "If you want I can help run through some of the tactics involved. I'm doing military courses with the JSDF, I'd be happy to pass it along."

Misato sat back and let the kids talk, glad to see they seemed to have a real chemistry. Especially Rei and Mana, interestingly. Now if she could just figure out why Mana seemed so damn familiar too... this was getting annoying.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"I'm a little disturbed Mana won that easily," Yui Ikari noted with a frown as she sat on the edge of her husband's desk in his office.

Gendo shrugged slightly, "Misato gave her two major advantages: the Evas didn't have their AT fields and Jet Alone was given easier access to weapons."

"I still don't know if we should give Jet Alone one of our trained pilots, either," Yui fretted, conveniently ignoring that Mana was just a pilot trainee.

"Maya Ibuki feels confident in her," Gendo pointed out patiently, "and she's bonded well with the kids in Rei and Shinji's class."

"I know I'm being irrational," Yui admitted after a moment. "I guess it's nerves from Naoko rejoining the facility."

Gendo just nodded slightly. He could certainly understand her nerves, and changes always made people somewhat uncomfortable. "Well, I have some good news," he offered mildly.

"Oh?" Yui brightened a bit.

"Despite various issues we finally have our third Evangelion pilot on the way..." Gendo smiled.

To be continued...


	14. Thirteen

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Thirteen

"Well, that's impressive," Naoko Akagi admitted as they watched footage of the battle at sea only a few hours ago.

Asuka Soryu Langley was on her way to Tokyo-3 by sea, when the convoy was attacked by a aquatic Angel. Why, no one knew, but the speculation was that it was drawn to the Evangelion in some way, possibly recognizing it as a threat. It sank several ships before Asuka could get aboard her Evangelion, but once Unit-03 was activated, Asuka made short work of the thing.

"Very," Yui agreed. In fact she was rather... startled at how good Asuka was with her EVA. She knew the girl was a prodigy, but her being THAT good was rather surprising. She honestly could not imagine either Shinji or Rei leaping from ship to ship while battling a Angel.

"Remind me to add acrobatics to the training schedule," Gendo muttered to himself thoughtfully, his glasses hiding his eyes. He also wasn't terribly pleased to have Naoko here, but the woman had been at NERV to prepare for linking their MAGI computers and hers, and excluding her from the meeting would be rude.

"What's her ETA to reach the city?" Ritsuko asked curiously, while wishing her mother wasn't there with them. Admittedly they hadn't had a screaming fight yet, but she felt certain that it was just a matter of time.

"Should be here tomorrow," Misato said briskly. She looked over at Gendo and Yui as she added, "I'd still like to go out and meet her by helicopter."

"I don't think it's necessary," Yui shook her head, "And I'm not sure how Asuka would take having you just drop in on her." She paused as she added, "Asuka is a bit of a odd duck."

Naoko was tempted to suggest all Evangelion pilots were odd ducks, but considering two of them were Yui's children she wisely kept silent. "I suppose she can be as odd as she wishes if she can pilot like that," she suggested.

"True," Misato agreed.

"All right, we need to get back to work," Ritsuko said as she excused herself, Naoko following, "I think we'll be finished the system connections by the end of the day."

Once she was gone Misato patted Yui on the shoulder as she noted, "It makes you nervous, having Naoko here?"

Yui was a bit startled that Misato picked up on her discomfort, but the girl always had been oddly perceptive. "A little," she agreed, "I know she's on medication, but I remember her attempting to choke me too."

"I planned to keep her away from you today," Gendo made a face, "but the message came in and I thought Ritsuko should know."

Changing the subject Misato said, "I'm like to meet Asuka when the fleet arrives tomorrow. Are we putting her in a apartment or do we want her sharing a suite with someone?"

"I'd like her sharing with someone, if possible," Yui admitted. "As I said, Asuka is a excellent pilot, but she's also arrogant and a loner. I'd like her to be better socialized, if we can manage it."

"I'll look into it," Misato agreed, even as she felt a little bit of dread. She had a spare room, and who knew...

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Asuka Soryu Langley was, to her general surprise, already getting tired of being the 'heroine' of the UN fleet. Oh, she certainly didn't mind the admiration in general, she knew a ace pilot like herself deserved that praise, but she couldn't get any privacy. And, honestly, she was getting fucking tired of turning down guys who thought she might want a 'victory lay' or something.

Ryoji Kaji looked up as she stormed into the suite where they were staying. "You all right?" the somewhat seedy looking man asked, his dark hair falling into his eyes.

"If another sailor propositions me, I'll kick him in the balls," Asuka growled.

Kaji hid a smile. He could understand the impulse, the girl was beautiful, if underage. Too bad she seemed pretty much uninterested. "I'll talk to the commander about it," he promised.

Asuka made a face, "At least we're off the ship in a day or so."

"You want me to clear part of the deck so you can meditate?" Kaji asked.

THAT was a odd quirk Kaji had noticed. He didn't even know where she picked up the habit, but whenever things got too much for the young lady, she would go off on her own and meditate. And surprisingly it seemed to work... she'd come back calmer, more focused. The other thing that concerned him was the meditating on open flame... though she didn't seem like a pyro or anything.

"No, it's just too noisy and crowded," Asuka shook her head grimly.

"Want me to ask if anyone wants to volunteer to spar?" Kaji suggested impishly, getting a snort of amusement from Asuka.

"They don't like how I fight," Asuka snickered.

Training the Evangelion pilots had been difficult, in part because the capabilities of the Angels were largely unknown. The Ikari's had focused on tactical weapons training, with Rei and Shinji becoming skilled with weapons and tactics. Asuka, on the other hand, had decided to focus on hand to hand and close quarters fighting. After much cajoling of NERV Berlin she had gotten progressively better instructors, and was very deadly in martial arts.

"We, I'm not volunteering to be your punching bag," Kaji said mildly.

"Good," Asuka said. She sighed and walked over to her bunk, "I'm gonna do some reading."

"I'll leave you to it," Kaji agreed as he headed out of their quarters. He made his way down the corridor then up the stairs to the deck. The sea air was brisk, but even here it seemed kind of... lifeless. The explosion that everyone called Second Impact changed the world, and it's effects were still being felt. The bridge was on a raised section of deck, he guessed to provide a better view of aircraft taking off? For whatever reason there was a climb of stairs, and the clang of metal announced he was coming.

"Ryoji Kaji," the Captain said flatly, the older man clearly not terribly pleased to see him.

"Captain," Kaji nodded, clearly not caring. "Still unhappy your guns did nothing against the angel?" he asked.

The captain visibly gritted his teeth. The fleet had thrown everything they had against the Angel and failed, while the Evangelion killed it with a knife. Worse, the Evangelion had did it while jumping from ship to ship, doing serious damage to his fleet.

"I head that the recovery efforts went well," Kaji added.

The captain nodded a bit at that. "I'm aware that Asuka did what she had to," he conceded, "and I'm thankful she saved us. It's just a bitter pill to swallow."

"Agreed," Kaji nodded, "I fought in the wars, I can sympathize."

"Hmm," the older man nodded. "How is young Miss Langley?"

"Cranky," Kaji said, getting a laugh from the older man. Somewhat more seriously he added, "Can you get your sailors under control? If another one hits on her, I can't be responsible for the consequences."

"You'll bring them up on charges?" the second in command frowned, his dark brown hair falling into his eyes.

"No, Asuka may just kick their asses up to their ears," Kaji said dryly.

The commander looked offended but the captain laughed. "I suspect she could manage it too," he conceded. "I'll have the squad leaders strongly remind the crew of their manners."

Kaji decided that was probably the best he was going to get and nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I'd best make sure my charge is staying out of trouble, excuse me."

Kaji went to the deck, then paused as he decided to get a smoke. He walked towards the edge of the deck, but not too close, then took out a cigarette. As he moved to light it, the phone rang. With a muffled curse he pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open, "Kaji here."

"You should give those up, they'll kill you," the smooth, slightly tired voice said, somehow aware of what he was doing despite being hundreds of miles away.

"Setsuna," Kaji said, trying to figure out what to say to the woman. He STILL didn't know who the hell she was. All he knew was that several years ago, in the Impact Wars, she had literally stepped in and saved his life, guiding him and his unit out of a ambush. Ever since then she had contacted him every now and then with helpful info or advice that usually put him in a better position than he had been.

"How is young Miss Langley?" Setsuna asked calmly.

Kaji didn't even wonder how she knew he was assigned to this job. "She's fine," he answered, "bit cranky over being confined to a ship."

"I'm not surprised," Setsuna answered, sounding mildly amused. "I have a unusual question to ask you," she said after a moment.

Kaji hesitated then answered, "Shoot."

"Has Asuka shown any sort of interest or fascination with fire?" Setsuna asked calmly.

Kaji nearly dropped his phone, but kept his reaction under control. "Now," he said mildly, "why would you be asking about a thing like that?"

Setsuna chuckled warmly, but continued, "Please, Kaji. It's important."

Kaji weighed how little he knew about her with how reliable she was and decided to answer. "Yeah," he admitted, "she meditates using fire. Other than that, I don't know."

There was a moment's silence, then a sigh. "Thank you," Setsuna said, "thank you very much."

"Why is this important, exactly?" Kaji asked, even though he suspected she wouldn't tell him.

"SHE is important, Kaji, as are all the pilots," Setsuna answered evasively. "Do your best to protect her, Kaji. She may be in as much danger outside of the Evangelion as in it."

"What, what...," Kaji started when the phone clicked, showing she had hung up on him.

'I HATE when she does that,' Kaji sighed, putting the phone away.

To be continued...

Notes: One divergence I'm adding is that the Evangelion pilots are SERIOUSLY trained. Partially because the scenarios in the original series are no longer valid. With Adam blown up there is no Instrumentality to fall back on to save humanity: they have to WIN. Period.

And yes, That's Sailor Pluto. More on her later.


	15. Chapter 15

Neon Senshi Evangelion

Fourteen

The jeep bumped along the road as Misato drove with her usual casual aka slightly insane style. "Do we HAVE to go meet the ship?" Rei complained while keeping a white knuckled grip on the seat in front of her.

"Well, we're all going to be working closely together," Misato shrugged, looking away from the road at them, "and it's important to get off on the right foot."

"Eyes on the road!" Shinji yelped.

Misato casually turned back, thankfully NOT having to dodge anything coming at them. "Thanks for coming along too, Mana," she added.

"Thanks for inviting me," Mana smiled back, the tall slightly gangly girl sitting in the back seat with Rei. The two girls got along well, despite being near physical and emotional opposites. Rei was the thoughtful one, while Mana was the more quiet, yet athletic girl. But Rei seemed to be drawing her out of her shell, somewhat.

Shinji, on the other hand, wasn't warming to Mana, which worried Misato a bit. They were going to have to work together in the future, and that meant getting along. Well, unless the military decided to kill them all with Jet Alone, anyway...

Of course, they still had Asuka to deal with. 'Fire-y' was the word most often used to describe the young woman, along with 'hell on wheels.' Integrating her into a team was gonna be tough, especially if she got cranky.

"Looks like we're nearly there," Shinji reminded her, the young man rather nervusly sitting in the passenger's side.

"Got it," Misato started to slow down, the jeep eventually coming to a halt not far from where the massive aircraft carrier was docked. "Oh, one thing: Do not mention Asuka's mother around her," she added seriously.

"Why?" Shinji wondered. "I hadn't heard..."

"After her father died in the Impact Wars Asuka's mother kind of checked out," Misato explained to them, "mentally anyway. She did her job and that's about it. It's a touchy subject with Asuka, so don't bring it up."

"Got it," Mana agreed willingly.

"Wow," Rei muttered as they took in the massive prow of the ship. Or she was in awe of Unit-02, the massive red-orange colored Evangelion crouched on the deck, partially covered in tarps. It was hard to say which was more impressive.

"Is that thing going to be okay, with the salty air and all?" Mana asked practically, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked it over.

"Long term exposure wouldn't be good," Rei conceded, "but a few days should be fine." She looked over at Misato, "Is a team coming out to move it?"

"I'm pretty sure they're already here," Misato smiled wryly. Ritsuko was out bright and early to supervise moving the beast, along with a engineering team.

Just then they saw a figure break away from the crown by the gangplank and rush towards them, red hair streaming behind her. "Misato!" she yelled, scowling, "Why didn't you call?"

"It's been a bit hectic, Asuka," Misato said as Asuka screeched to a halt, hands on hips as she scowled up at the taller woman.

"Not a good excuse, dummy," Asuka scowled. Then she threw her arms around the taller woman as she added, "I missed you."

"You too," Misato sighed, hugging her back.

"I take it they met?" Mana said wryly.

Shinji chuckled as he explained, "Misato did a training period in Germany, they met then."

"Well, well, it's the Doll and Gendo Jr," Asuka broke away from Misato to drawl at the two Ikari siblings.

"I am NOT a doll," Rei smirked suddenly as she said, "I am a action figure."

Asuka blinked then burst into laughter at THAT. She looked at Shinji, "I don't hear you protesting the nickname."

Shinji looked back at her levelly and replied, "I could think of worse things to grow up to be than my father."

Asuka nodded, acknowleding the point. She looked over at the third person and nodded, "Hi, I'm Asuka Soryu Langley. I may act like a raging bitch, but most days I'm not THAT bad."

"Mana Kirishima," she shook her hand, "well, at least you're honest."

"That's one way to put it," Asuka smiled.

"All right," Misato said to Asuka briskly, "do you want to stay and supervise, or come back to town with us?"

"I talked to Ritsuko earlier, I think she can handle it," Asuka started to explain before a male voice cut her off.

"Hey, Misato!" the slightly scruffy man hurried up to them.

Rei knew Misato pretty well, and was very good at reading her. One of the interesting things about her was that she liked nearly everyone. YES, there were one or two people she actually didn't like, but most of the time she liked people. So it was rather startling to see a flash of irritation on her face before she mustered a fake smile.

"Kaji," Misato said coolly, "I see you accompanied Asuka?"

"Yeah, we took the trip from Germany together," Kaji said, trying for a charming smile. Sadly, Misato appeared mostly unmoved.

Asuka appeared confused by the instant chill in the air. "Yeah, and he was a perfect gentleman. Well, except for keeping me from beating up on sailors."

"Beating up on sailors?" Shinji blinked.

Kaji sighed. "A few young men got frisky, I asked Asuka to limit herself to breaking arms," he explained a bit tiredly.

Rei gave Asuka a admiring look, "I'm impressed."

Misato smiled reluctantly then nodded to Kaji. "You should have let her go all out," she noted dryly, "I bet no one else would have tried anything." She took a breath, "Anyway, we need to get going. Are you staying with the recovery team?"

Kaji looked faintly disappointed as he nodded. "Sure, I'll keep an eye on things. Meet you back in town?" he asked.

"If you're lucky," Misato said as she herded the kids back to the jeep.

Once they were on the road Rei leaned forward from where she, Mana and Shinji were in the back. "Okay, what was THAT about?" she asked.

"That, what?" Misato pretended not to understand as she drove.

Mana drawled, "You did not seem all that happy to see him."

Misato puffed out a breath. Teenagers and gossip, they were relentless. "We had a thing back in college," Misato said shortly, "it didn't work out."

"And that's it?" Rei had to ask.

"That's all I'm telling you now, anyway," Misato smiled wryly as she continued, "ask me again when you're older."

"Awww," Asuka pouted.

In all honestly, Misato hadn't been ready for a relationship, and choosing Kaji had been a bad move too. They had a lot of good sex, but that wasn't enough to build a relationship on. Add in that he was sleeping around, and...

"Have you got a place set up with NERV housing?" Rei asked Asuka curiously, deciding a subject change was a good idea.

"Supposedly I'm boarding with someone," Asuka made a face, "Why can't I just have my own apartment?"

"Because we're minors?" Mana shrugged, "Or NERV figures we'll have wild parties if left to our own devices?"

"Probably number two," Rei noted, amused.

Asuka laughed at that. "Probably," she agreed.

Misato puffed out a breath. "I mean to suggest this earlier," she said, "but I've got a spare room, if you want to use it."

Rei and Shinji exchanged a look, mildly surprised by this turn of events. While Misato was friendly, almost frighteningly so, she also maintained a degree of privacy. It was a bit surprising that she would offer to let the girl into her personal space.

Asuka smiled suddenly, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'll shovel out the junk and put your stuff in," Misato winked, teasing.

"Works for me," Asuka nodded.

To be continued...

Notes: Yeah. I've only been a so/so fan of Misato and Kaji, and I honestly don't think it would work in this version of Evangelion. That said, I AM leaving the door open to use him later.


End file.
